The Girl
by ugosglasses
Summary: Yui Kusanagi, a young linguist working in a museum, losing her time as she could a lot more than that, hopes of the day where she can go look for the Shepherd's Journal in the hope to find the lost continent of Atlantis. Little does she know her chance is looking up, and she'll find even more than that. Atlantis AU with the kamiaso peeps ft. cat melissa
1. Chapter 1 - The Girl's dream

**Alright! here we go for another fanfic! Once upon a time, a friend wanted more Thoth/Yui fanfic. and I said I'd write one. Months later, I actually post it online! Wouhou! Hope you will all like it!**

 **It mostly follows the story, as in I stick to it, with a few differences, such as characters that aren't there staying. Anyway, you'll see if you read it! I really hope you guys like it :)**

* * *

 **Chapter 1  
The Girl's Dream**

This is it. This was her chance. If it didn't work this time, if they didn't allow her to go look for the Shepherd's Journal in Iceland, she would quit her job and everything, sell her home and go alone on this journey. She knew this is what she was meant to do. It was her dream, the one she shared with her long lost friend.

Yui Kusanagi was a young woman in her thirties, although she looked younger. She was a linguist and had studied languages for years, decrypting the language of the Atlanteans. She was quite clever and learned languages quickly. She was considered one of the most talented linguists to this day. With a doctorate in Linguistic Theory and Dead Languages, as well as minor degrees such as Chemistry, Literature, Art history, Sociology and Anthropology, she was proven to be extremely qualified. Yui was also tutored by her old friend, Thor Megingyoruzu. With him, she learnt about Cartography, Drafting, Navigation, Astronomy, Archeology as well as Antique restoration techniques. Yet, here she was, stuck under the museum, taking care of the boilers. Such talent wasted, and she couldn't do more than that because of her gender.

As the young woman paced through the room, waiting for the time of her meeting with her boss to come, reviewing everything in her head, and where she would try one ultimate time to get financial support for an expedition to find the Shepherd's Journal, a message came through the tube, surprising her. She ran toward it, almost tripping on her dress as she reached for it. Putting on her glasses, she opened the tube and quickly read the message.

The meeting with her superiors had been advanced to 3:30 pm instead of 4:30 pm. She glanced quickly at the clock. It was currently 3:45! Slightly panicking, she started gathering her stuff, so she could run and leave immediately, and try to still meet with her boss. As she hurried toward the door, another message came in. She was struggling to stay calm. This time, the message read that since she hadn't come to the meeting on time, it had been cancelled.

"Oh no they can't do this! No, no, no!" she muttered as she gathered the things she had dropped when the message came in. It was all her stuff to explain yet once more what the expedition to Iceland to find the Shepherd's journal would consist in, and why they should finance her.

With things stuck under her arms, she ran upstairs and to her bosses' office. She couldn't let her chance go. She had to hurry, otherwise she would never be able to accomplish her and Thor's dream. It was the one thing that kept her in America. She had been home sick for years, but her best chances to find a team of people for an expedition as big as this one was in the United States of America.

As she finally reached the first floor of the museum, she saw her superiors in the hallway. Some started running frantically in different direction when they saw Yui arrive, paper and maps and language analyses stuck in her arms. They were entering offices and locking themselves in, in the hope Yui wouldn't see them. They were saved as the only one left was the Director of the museum, Mr. Fenton Harcourt, Yui's direct boss.

She finally reached him, panting heavily after the long run. She was determined to still do her presentation, despite everything those old, rich white man tried to do to stop her. "Mr. Harcourt! You must let me explain myself!" she said.

The small man looked at her, a sad smile on his face. "I'm sorry Miss Kusanagi. We cannot do anything for you."

"But- I have proofs! I swear I can find it! Just- just give me a chance! Please!"

"Oh my dear Miss Kusanagi… Even if I wanted, how would people react? You are a woman, and not even an American one. This is not your place. I suggest you start looking for a man instead of running after such impossible dreams" Mr. Harcourt sighed. "The museum only funds expeditions that are based on facts, Miss Kusanagi, not just simple folklore. We cannot do anything for you, I'm afraid."

As he started walking toward the exit, Yui didn't give up. She walked behind him, insisting.

"My gender or my origins don't have anything to do with this! I _am_ qualified! I am very qualified for this and you know it! Please, Mr. Harcourt! Give me my chance."

She followed him out of the museum and toward his waiting carriage.

"I said no. Give up, Miss Kusanagi, this is getting ridiculous. Don't throw your career away like Mr. Megingyoruzu did. No one will want to fund such an expedition. He died trying to do this. You don't want to follow him in death, do you?"

"Then I will… I will quit! I will quit my job at the museum! Help me or I'm quitting!" she said to him as he sat down in his carriage. "You can't run the museum if there is no heating!"

"Well then, it's been a pleasure meeting you. Remember that no one is irreplaceable." Mr. Harcourt sighed as he urged his chauffeur to leave, leaving Yui alone in the street as rain started pouring on her.

She ran back to the museum, went straight for the basement, gathered her things and hastily left for her small apartment. She was a bit lost, as it didn't quite go as she expected it would. She thought that Mr. Harcourt would give her a chance, but alas he did not, and now she didn't even have a job anymore. Oh how much of an idiot she felt… No amount of degrees or diplomas and what not could even chase that feeling away. She was useless in this world governed by white, rich and old man such as Mr. Harcourt and his friends.

She opened the door to her apartment, dropping her bags to the floor. "I'm home, Melissa" she said with a sigh, looking for her cat in the darkness.

Instead of finding the feline, she saw a dark figure standing in front of her window, hidden by the shadows of the apartment. It was impossible to distinguish any features on this person's face, as they were in contrast with the lightning flashes.

Instantly, she grabbed her umbrella and pointed it at the person. "How did you get in? Who are you?!" she said in what was meant to be a confident tone, yet her voice had quavered.

"I came down the chimney, ho ho ho" the person said.

Despite the feminine silhouette of the person, a rather deep voice answered her. She swallowed with difficulty as her grasp on the umbrella tightened.

"My name is Akira Totsuka" the man said as he sat down in a chair, crossing his legs and looking seductively at Yui. "I was sent by my master to invite you to his manor. He has some business for you"

"Why should I follow you? I don't know you! What tells me you're not going to- to- to rape me!"

"It's not like you have anything better to do anyway, and the likes of you don't interest me. Come on, follow me"

The man named Akira stood up and went for the door, just passing in front of Yui. Not quite knowing what to do, the young girl stood in her apartment for a few minutes before deciding on following the stranger. _I'm so going to regret this,_ she thought to herself as she closed her apartment's door.

She climbed in the carriage, sitting down the opposite side of Akira, her heart trying to get out of her ribcage. She had no idea where she was heading to. They left the city and drove for a while in the country side, the forest looking dark and lonely in the wind and rain. Lightning illuminated the landscape once in a while, throwing strange shadows over the road.

Finally, after what felt like hours, they arrived in front of a huge gate that led to an immense manor on a hill. Yui was absolutely astonished by the place. It was enormous. It reminded her of the castles she saw in textbooks at university. The person must have been really rich. She wondered who it was, and why they had asked her to come. She wasn't really special, just very good at what she did, which was kind of normal as she loved it. Isn't it the usual thing, to be good at what you like? And yet, that had proven to not be enough to get her money to start an expedition.

The car came to a stop in front of the manor and Yui slowly got out, taking in the beauty of the place. It really was a beautiful house, and it appeared to be richly decorated, both the interior and the exterior.

Akira walked pass her as Yui looked around, walking straight for the elevator. The man started making recommendation.

"Only address Mr. Hringhorni as such, or only Mr. or Sir. Be extremely polite and don't make him lose his time. He is granting you a favor so be grateful you made it this far" He said as he climbed into the elevator, only to realize Yui was still staring at all the artifacts on the walls. "Please hurry Miss Kusanagi, you are losing time uselessly. Exactly what I told you not to do." He said as he grabbed her arm to force her to enter the elevator.

They started the ascension, which lasted a few minutes. It stopped on the library floor. The door opened and Akira had to gently push her out of it.

Yui couldn't believe her eyes. The library was just as richly decorated as the rest of the house, with an aquarium to a side, and a portrait hanged over the chimney. As she stared at it, she recognized Thor, standing next to a blond man.

"October 1896. You were still very young back then, but Thor admired you greatly already. Such a talented child you are." A voice coming from behind her spoke, making Yui jump.

Yui spun around on her heels and found herself face to face with a tall, blond man, the same one that appeared on the portrait of her old mentor. She tripped on her feet and fell, only to be caught at the last minute by the man.

"Ah are you alright? I'm sorry I didn't want to frighten you. I am Balder Hringhorni, an old friend of your legal guardian, Thor. I've heard a lot about you, I must say" the man smiled as he took Yui's hand and left a gentle kiss on the back on it.

"I-I-I- It's a pleasure, M-Mr. Hringhorni" Yui stuttered as her face quickly became hot, bowing in front of him. "I must s-say Thor never mentioned you, I'm afraid."

Balder started laughing "I bet he hasn't. He wasn't much of a talker anyway. And when he did speak, it was mostly to brag about your progress in school. He must have wanted to protect you from following in his footstep, but I guess that didn't work."

He let go of Yui and walked toward a cupboard further in the room, next to the shelves, serving himself a glass of alcohol. The man was dressed in white, clean clothes, with only a blue bow-tie. He had long, silky blond hair and dark blue eyes. He looked quite stunning actually. A very handsome, rich man.

As she found herself staring, the young woman blushed some more and looked away to a table set next to the aquarium. On it was resting a little package, with a note written on a paper:

 _To: Yui  
From: Thor  
May you succeed where I have failed_

As she stared at the package, Yui tried to process what this could be. Balder walked toward her with a glass of alcohol he had prepared for her, and his own.

"He wanted you to have this, but didn't want to give it to you too soon. He wanted you to be ready. Now- aren't you going to open it?" he took a sip of his wine, staring at the young woman.

With shaky hands, Yui picked the package and ripped the paper. She found in it a book, a very, very special book. She put down the paper and stared, wide eyed at the book: The Shepherd's journal.

"This- This is!" she beamed as she looked up at Balder, who was smiling back "How? When did he get it? I can't believe it!"

"A few years ago. Although, I do question why he wanted you to have it. You're still young, and a woman nonetheless. A Japanese woman, that is. I wonder how you could find the Atlantis by yourself"

Yui lost her smile and became serious. Mixed emotions filled her. She felt happy and grateful to Thor, and she missed him. But now, this man was making her infuriated. She was tired of all this racism and sexism, saying that she, a Japanese woman, wasn't allowed to be as good, or even better than a man in a specific field. She was tired to be reduced to only the role of the poor old girl who still wasn't married. She was tired of this reputation of her preferring books to anything else. And at this point, they were right. Books weren't as mean to her as human had been. They actually helped her, unlike men, who desperately tried to stop her. But she was done. She was done being considered like just a woman. She was Yui Kusagani, Linguist and specialist of Dead languages. No one could stop her anymore.

With a frown, she growled back at the man "This is the key to Atlantis! I can very much find it! I can- I can read the language! This is the key to the greatest discovery in a long time! Look at this!"

"This is but gibberish to me" Balder shrugged.

She opened the book and put it in Balder's face. "Sir, do you have any idea how much this is worth? It's priceless! With this I can- I can find the Atlantis! I am an expert in gibberish, as you so kindly put it. I will find it, I will find the Atlantis, with or without your help, or- or anyone else's help!"

"Alright, alright" Balder laughed as he sat down at his desk, an amused smile floating on his lips. He liked that girl. "I was just testing you. I know now, you really are ready. Thor was right: you will succeed in finding the lost empire." He pressed a button and a model of a submarine came out from under a trap on the table.

Yui's eyes widened some more. What exactly was going on right now?!What had just… happened?

"Wait- you mean you're going to fund the expedition?"

"More than that! I organized it. Everything is ready. We were just missing one last detail: A Linguist specialised in gibberish, and who could read Atlantean more specifically."

"But- but we need specialists!" she added, thinking fast, her brain not processing what was going on.

"Taken care of. We picked the best!" Balder opened a folder with pictures of people from everywhere around the world.

"I have to quit my job!"

"May I remind you that that has already been taken care of by you, earlier today?"

"What about my apartment? I can't leave like that!"

"It has been taken care of, do not worry. Everything you own has been packed and brought to my manor already."

"What about my cat?!"

She heard Melissa meowing on her shoulder. Gently, she took him in her arm and started petting him as she assimilated everything that had happened. She was going on an expedition to find the Atlantis aboard a huge submarine with a big crew, and the best people in different fields. She started grinning uncontrollably as she realized what this all really meant, tears of joy filling up her eyes. She was going to find the Atlantis. She was going to pursue her and Thor's dream. Finally, after years of trying, she was going to do it.

"So are you in?" Balder asked, taking a sip from his wine.

"Yes! I mean, it would be my pleasure, Mr. Hringhorni, to be part of this expedition!"

"Then it is settled. You will stay here for the night. The ship departs tomorrow. I suggest you have a nice rest because I have a feeling you won't sleep much in the next days."

"Oh thank you so much Mr. Hringhorni!" Yui bowed, smiling from an ear to another.

"Feel free to call me Balder. Akira will show you to your room, if you will follow him"

She bowed again, and half ran to the elevator, tripping on the bottom of her dress a few times, holding Melissa close against her chest, despite him meowing in discontentment. She was lead to a room on the third floor of the manor, where she found her ownings. Too excited to go to bed, she put Melissa down on her bed and started packing a bag for the next day. Her heart was pounding strongly in her chest in contentment. This day had started on the wrong foot, but oh god did it end perfectly! Quitting her job and holding head to that horrible Mr. Harcourt was the best move she had done.

In her bag, she put a few clothes for changing, her picture of her as a child with Thor, the Shepherd's Journal, which was pretty much the most important thing on this expedition, and Melissa's food as there was no way in all heaven she was leaving her cat behind.

She sat down on her bed, smiling like an idiot for a moment. This happened all so quickly! How could it even be possible? Finally, she would embark on the journey to find the lost continent of Atlantis. This was what she had dreamed of, what Thor, her dearest guardian and mentor, and also her best friend, had dreamed of way before she was even born. She took the photograph of her and Thor out from her bag and looked at it fondly.

"I'm going to find it, I promise. I will make you proud of me, Thor" she spoke to it as her cat settled down next to her to sleep.

Yui then proceeded to change into more comfortable clothes to sleep in. She wouldn't be wearing dresses for quite a while, as the skirts would get in her way during the expedition. For this reason she had mostly packed some trousers she owned and tank tops. She was planning on taking her trench coat with her, since she didn't know what the weather would be like on both the boat and Atlantis, once they reached it. In the submarine, it wasn't much of a problem, but as they were going to be underwater, it would still get cold.

Her heart pounding in her chest, she laid down on her bed, Melissa snuggled up against her. It was a very comfortable bed, but Yui was glad she'd only sleep one night in it. She didn't want to get used to the comfort of this room, as she wouldn't have any in the next days. The submarines cabin weren't going to be the most comfortable, especially since they had a big crew. She would have to share her cabin with other people.

With a smile on her lips, Yui fell asleep, already imagining how the next days, months or even years would go, as they searched for the lost empire of Atlantis.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Girl and the Submarine

**Alright! Chapter two is on earlier than I wanted, but hey, it was ready so. Thanks to Yuu for the beta! Also from a bit before the leviathan scene, I started taking most of the dialogue out of the movie, because hey. If I can do it, it's fun. so yeah. Of course I twisted it a bit to fit better! But yeah. Hope you enjoy this chapter! I'm done rambling now, off you go read ;w;**

* * *

 **Chapter Two**

 **The Girl and the Submarine**

Morning came faster than Yui could ever hope for. As soon as the sun rose, she got out of bed and got dressed. First putting on her khaki trousers, following with a white tank top, a shirt over it as it was cold, and then putting on her black boots. She put on her trench coat, checked three times if she had everything she needed, made Melissa climb on her shoulders and departed. A car was waiting for her outside the house, ready to bring her to the ship that would drop the submarine far enough in the ocean.

The ride was fairly short. It only lasted around 20 minutes. Outside, attached to the docks, was a ship absolutely gigantic. The only thing that could have compared to it was the Titanic.

Yui stood there, staring at the ship, her mouth slightly opened. Considering the submarine they were going to use was enormous, it was only normal for the ship transporting it to be even bigger. Yet, she couldn't help but be wide-eyed as she looked at the white boat. Balder chose this moment to arrive next to her.

"Miss Yui, there you are! There is someone I'd like to present you, if you would be so kind as to follow me!"

Without really waiting for an answer, Balder grabbed Yui's arm and forced her to follow him, despite the hissing cat on the young lady's shoulders. Yui kept staring at the ship as she slowly followed behind Balder. She hadn't realized he had let go of her arm until she ran into someone's chest.

"Oh! I'm- I'm so sorry!" she blurted out as she looked up, fixing her glasses.

"No harm has been done" the man smiled.

He was tall, with curly blond hair and a beard. He wore a military uniform. He looked incredibly serious, even though he had a small smile on his face. To be fair, Yui feared him just a little.

"Miss Yui, this is Zeus Keraunos, leader of this expedition. Mr. Keraunos, I present you Yui Kusanagi, our linguist." Balder made the presentation, as no one else would speak.

"It's a pleasure, Miss Kusanagi"

"The- the pleasure is all mine!" she replied, shaking his hand, fixing her glasses with her free hand.

"The ship is about to depart. We should hurry!" Balder showed them toward the stairs that lead inside the boat.

Cheeks pink from the embarrassment of having ran into someone, Yui followed behind Zeus. Once they reached the first floor, she told them goodbye as she wished to enjoy the nice breeze out there a little before they left.

She stared at the horizon as the ship left the docks. She couldn't help but smile all the time. It still felt so unreal! How could this even be happening? She was glad she stayed strong and never gave up, even when it was incredibly hard to go on. Especially when Thor passed away. She had lost her very best friend and only family. But she kept going, never giving up, even during the hardest times of her life, where everything felt pointless. And here she was, on the biggest ship she had ever seen, about to enter the biggest submarine ever, and about to go on once in a lifetime adventure: finding Atlantis.

Deciding she had enough of fresh air to last the time she would pass in the submarine, she started heading down to the bottom of the ship, her feet light as she ran, passing by crew men of all sorts.

With Melissa on her shoulders, she finally arrived in front of the submarine. It was even bigger than she had imagined it would be! She stared at it, wide eyed as her heart pounded in her chest. It was so very exciting!

Following the soldier that were accompanying them, Yui entered the gigantic machine, finding her way to her cabin. It took quite a while to do so, but eventually she did.

She entered the small cabin, which had two bunk beds. Yui looked around it and saw that the bottom bunk of the bed to her right was free. She sat down on it, putting her bag next to her. Melissa let himself fall on her lap and she petted him, a smile on her face. It was starting to settle in that she was on an adventure. And she had brought her cat with her. Wow.

"NO GET OFF OF THERE" a voice yelled, surprising her.

Without second thought, Yui jumped to her feet, hugging Melissa close to her chest as she stared at the person crouched in front of the bottom bunk bed.

Under the blanket, which the boy had pulled away, were a bunch of small dirt piles with flags from all around the world. The boy was replacing everything, mumbling about the dirt being mixed up and how bad that was.

"What are you doing Anubis? Not your dirt piles again! We've talked about this. Not again…" a blond man said, coming out of the bathroom at the end of the cabin.

Yui eyed both of them, horrified. Who _were they?!_ She guessed they were the ones who would sleep in her cabin with her but… why were they on the submarine?

"Oh hello there, little miss!" The blond man greeted her. "My name's Apollon Agana Belea! And who might you be? Who are you little miss?"

"Ku-Ku-Kusanagi Yui" the young woman stuttered as she tried to keep her cat from jumping out of her arms. "I'm-I'm the linguist for the expedition."

"Oooooh! You should have said sooner! Nice meeting you, Miss Kusanagi! I'm really happy to meet you!"

Apollon's cheerfulness scared Yui slightly. She shook his hand, letting go of her cat, who decided to settle down right in the middle of the dirt piles again. The boy named Anubis hissed at the cat. Melissa, with what appeared to be a smile, rolled in the dirt.

"I'm the Doctor by the way. And Anubis Ma'at here is our dirt expert."

"Geologist" Anubis grumbled as he tried to recreate the little piles of dust with their respective flags.

Yui stared at them both. Were… were these people the experts that were supposed to accompany her on the journey to find the Atlantis? Was this serious? Oh lord. This will be a catastrophe. They'll never make it out alive of this journey.

"Has anyone given you a tour of the submarine yet? Did anyone do it?"

"N-no, no one did yet, I just got on the sub…"

"Then if you want I could-"

It was right then that the intercom of the submarine called for all specialist to head for the submarine's control room, where they would be introduced to everyone. Apollon gave Yui a sorry smile. But Yui was actually very happy that they had been interrupted. It was bit too much to take in at the moment, and she was getting overwhelmed with emotions.

"Come on dirt boy, we gotta go!"

"But- the cat!" Anubis complained, waving desperately at Melissa, curled up in the middle of the bed, covered in dust from all over the world.

"I'll take care of my cat, sorry" Yui apologized.

She reached out to Melissa, who immediately jumped to his paws, shook the dirt off his fur and climbed on Yui's shoulder, where he usually sat and stared at everyone who approached his master.

Yui quickly left the room, eager to get away from the over-friendly doctor and strange geologist fanatic boy. If those two were like that, she was scared to meet the rest of the team. At least Zeus seemed to be a serious man, more serious than the specialists she already met.

After a good 15 minute walk, the young girl reached the control room and was amazed. It was a giant orange bubble protecting them from the cold water of the deep sea. There were so many people, sitting in front of machine's, controlling the engines and all, it was impressive. Yui's mouth dropped as she stared, slowly turning around on her heels. She was forced to stop when she accidently ran into someone... again.

"Careful there, little kitten~" the man said, catching her before she fell.

"S-Sorry" Yui bowed in front of the man.

He wasn't much taller than her, had flamboyant red hair and silver eyes. He gave her a mischievous smile. Yui then realized Balder was next to him, looking through notes, not paying attention to them.

"Is everyone here? Can we start?" Zeus said as he climbed on the platform they were standing on.

"I think yes!" Balder answered.

Yui looked around. Beside Balder, Zeus, Apollon and Anubis, there was another boy with blue hair. He was about her height. He was playing with a spanner, frowning. He didn't look all that happy to be here.

Next to him stood Akira, the man that had brought her to Balder in the first place. He was looking at the blue haired boy, and seemed like he was about to say something to him, yet not doing so. He seemed scared that the boy would hit him with his spanner.

Next to Akira was yet another man with red hair, although they were a darker shade than the first one. He was fooling around with a cup of wine, apparently washing it with a cloth. Apollon was next to him, followed by Anubis, and finally joining them was a purple haired boy who walked toward Akira and blue hair boy.

They looked like an extremely strange lot. You would never believe that they were the most qualified specialist in their different fields. And that was very, very strange to Yui. Would they really make it..?

"Alright. Let's make official presentation." Zeus started but was immediately cut off.

"We already all know each other, Keraunos, just get on with this" Loki whined, throwing his head backward.

"If you shut up it'll be over quickly, Laevatein. Now. You were all chosen because of your incredible skills in your given fields. Loki Laevatein as a bomb expert. Totsuka Takeru as our expert mechanic and engineer. Totsuka Akira, second in command and my assistant. Totsuka Tsukito, our communication officer. Dionysus Thyrsos, our cook and Apollon Agana Belea, our doctor. Anubis Ma'at, our geologist and mineral expert. And finally, Yui Kusanagi, our expert in dead languages."

"Are we done now? Is that all? Can I go back to sleep? I'm not feeling well."

"You shouldn't have eaten all those candies, Loki" Balder scolded him.

Yui was convince the rich man wouldn't be part of the expedition, yet there he was. They made quite a team, actually.

"Unfortunately for you, Miss Kusanagi will give us a little presentation on what lies before us. Miss Kusanagi, if you would be so kind as to start"

There was a common groan between Loki and Takeru as they slowly fell to the floor, sitting. They just wanted to go back to their cabin or actually go back to work…

"A-Alright so! L-Let's start with some projection shall we?"

Yui awkwardly stood in front of the whiteboard, wondering what to do. Only the calming presence of Melissa on her shoulder allowed her to stay remotely calm in front of her public. With shaky hands, she placed the first picture in the projector, talking at the same time.

"It is said that guarding the entrance of Atlantis is a giant monster-"

"Yeah, that cat looks pretty monstrous alright" Loki laughed in the back.

The young woman quickly turned around to see a picture of Melissa instead of the right one. Her face flushed, she removed it and looked for the right one, sliding it in rapidly.

"As I was saying, guarding the entrance to the lost empire is a giant monster, the leviathan"

"Wow Loki, I did not know you were also a sea monster" Takeru said on a fake surprised tone, receiving a hit on the shoulder from Loki.

"My name's Laevatein, not Leviathan, dumbass"

"Boys, please" Akira spoke up, shutting them up immediately. "You can go on"

"The Leviathan appears, among other books, in the Bible. But in my opinion it's just some sort of sculpture that stands at the entrance, and not an actual giant monster"

"Alright, so once we find our Loki, what do we do?" Zeus asked.

"We dig right? We dig? Tell me we dig" Anubis added, absolutely delighted at the idea of digging.

Ignoring Loki whining about people not letting him live in peace, and Anubis looking like a puppy, Yui answered the question. "In fact, we do not have to dig. The journal says there is a crevice leading to a chamber of air, and from there, a road leads to the Atlantis."

As she explained what would happen, Yui took the black chalk and drew a quick schema of the path they were looking for. She turned around to see them, only to realize most weren't listening, save for Zeus and Akira. This was going to be a rough ride if from the start her colleagues were not interested in this. Deciding it was too early to give up, Yui was about to pick up where she left off when someone cut her off.

"Mr. Keraunos, there's something weird going on out there, sir" the person driving the submarine said in a nervous voice.

"Alright, class dismiss. Open up your light and show me what's going on" Zeus said as he climbed the stairs and stood behind the pilot.

While most of the experts left to go back to their business, Yui climbed behind Zeus and Akira, who were watching.

"Mother of god…" she whispered, eyes wide opened.

In front of them, a ship graveyard was defiling under them.

"How can there be this many ships?" Akira whispered, just as astonished as the others.

"There are ships from every era" Yui added, her voice failing to hide her interest.

"Alright, show's over. Go back to whatever you were doing" Zeus concluded as he went back down, followed by his subordinate.

Yui stayed a while longer, watching. It was simply amazing. Ships from Antique times to the Renaissance and Industrial Revolution were covering the ocean's floor. How could this even be possible? She wished she could investigate closer on the case, but alas that was not the goal of her mission aboard this submarine.

"Miss Kusanagi, come over here, if you would please" Zeus called suddenly.

She went back down to the bridge, hugging her cloak close to her. All those ships were starting to give her the chills.

"Yes, sir?"

"Please translate to us the exact passage that mentions that this beast guards the entrance to the Atlantis."

"S-Sure sir, I'm right on it"

Yui grabbed the book from the table she had left it on, quickly looked through it and found the right page. She started reading it out loud in Atlantean at first, then roughly translated it.

"Enter the lair of the Leviathan, there you will find the path to the gateway" She read, slightly embarrassed.

"Commander" the voice of Tsukito Totsuka surprised Yui as he called for his boss. "I am picking up something strange on the hydrophone and I believe you should hear it."

"Put it on the speakers, Totsuka" Zeus replied instantly, slightly bothered.

As soon as they could all hear the sound, silence fell on the bridge. Yui felt the hair on her body raise as she shivered. It was a strange, metallic sound, like a machine.

Zeus and Akira left Yui to go check closer on what the hydrophone was picking up. As he reached the boy sitting there, Zeus took a few more minutes to listen to the sound.

"Could it be a pod of whale?"

"No. It is something much bigger" Tsukito replied without looking up.

"It sounds metallic. Could be an echo" Akira added, shrugging.

Yui was looking at the deep sea in front of them, listening to the sound. It was strangely creepy.

"I-is it just me or is it getting louder?" she stuttered as the sound seemed closer than it did before.

Just at that moment, it all stopped. Everything fell silent, and no one dared to speak for a long time. Akira was the one to break the silence.

"Whatever it was, it's now gone"

As Zeus turned toward the pilot to give him commands, and Yui prepared to go back to her cabin with the hope that Anubis wouldn't be there and she could get some rest, or take some time to read the Shepherd's Journal. Suddenly, there was a crash as they were thrown sideways, falling directly on the ground. A red light went off as the submarine moved in every sense, sending a wave of panic through the crew.

"Load the torpedo bays! Sub battle crews, battle station!" Akira called out with a sense of urgency.

The crew started hurrying toward the pods with difficulty as whatever was attacking them had taken hold of the submarine and was shaking it, sending them once more to the ground. Yui was frozen in place, looking everywhere, not knowing where she should stand to be out of the way. Another crash sent her over the railing and on the orange glass. Melissa was stuck in her arms, meowing in distress. He could not comprehend what was going on. As Yui slowly rose, her head dizzy, she looked through the glass and saw a red light narrowing on her and her cat.

"Good heavens, it's a machine!" She yelled as she stood up and ran back to the bridge, hugging Melissa close to her chest.

She made it back to Zeus side and hold tightly the railing. This couldn't be happening. They were going to die, and they were nowhere near to the Atlantis. _Of dear god,_ she thought, closing her eyes. _Please let us survive this. Please let me finish this… for Thor._

"Launch the sub pods!" Zeus yelled next to her.

The pods were launched and immediately went for the beast attacking them. As soon as the beast had let go of the submarine, they hurried the engines and got as far as they could. Yui stared in horror as the pods kept attacking, and Zeus yelled more orders.

"Launch the torpedoes! Now!"

As soon as the torpedoes touched the beast, it started glowing and shot a beam that went right through the submarine. As the sub shook under the pressure, Tsukito's ever calm voice interrupted the craziness.

"Sir, it's engineering on four" He said like what was happening was nothing alarming.

With all her might, Yui tried to comprehend how this man could remain so bloody serious in such a moment, but failed miserably.

"Keraunos! We took a big hit down here," what seemed to be Takeru's voice rang through the speaker. "We're taking on water extremely fast. I don't want to be around when it hits the boilers" he concluded, his voice barely making it through all the ruckus happening behind him.

"How much time to we have?" Zeus replied back, keeping his calm.

"Twenty minutes it the bulkheads hold" there was a horrible crashing sound behind, followed by Takeru adding : "Make that five"

"You heard the boy! Let's move!" Zeus yelled at the crew

"Move? Where? Move where?!" Yui asked as everyone started leaving the bridge, bringing her with them down the stairs.

Melissa, who had been left on the ground, climbed on her shoulders as Yui started running as fast as she could, following the crew mindlessly. She was hugging her bag with her most important belonging in it, hugging the Shepherd's journal close to her chest.

"Tsukito, sound the alarm!" Yui heard Akira calling behind.

The next thing Yui knew, there was an alarm wailing, and Tsukito's voice was over on the speakers.

"All hands, abandon the ship"

As Yui ran, she was caught up with Takeru and Apollon. She tripped on her way to the trap that lead to the emergency subs, caught up at the last minute by Apollon.

"Move it, people! Sometime today would be nice!" Akira yelled as they urged them to enter the submarine.

As soon as they were down, Yui was shoved into a seat as Akira ordered them to buckle up as he ran to join Zeus at the commands. Yui put Melissa in her lap so he would be stuck between her and the seat belt. Despite his meowing of discomfort, she couldn't afford to lose him. Not now.

"Lieutenant, get us out of here!" Zeus ordered Akira immediately as the man jumped in his seat.

They heard the beast roar out there, sending a shiver down their spine. Yui wished Thor had been there to hold her hand, like he did when she was scared when she was a kid.

"Lieutenant!" The commander urged Akira to hurry, the submarine slowly falling toward the ocean floor, where he would lay there forever with all the wrecked ship.

"I'm trying!"

As the beast roared again, it's metallic shriek echoing deep inside the submarine, Akira gave up using his arms and kicked the lever, opening the door leading outside of the gigantic submarine.

Despite being free, they were definitely not out of danger. Driving the small submarine as fast as possible toward a possible exit, and therefore out of danger, the few people present in the submarine stayed silent. Behind them, the submarine that should have taken them to the air chamber exploded, sending pieces of metal in every directions.

Shaken in every sense as they fled toward safety, Zeus briefly turned around to look at Yui. "Where to, Miss Kusanagi?"

"We're looking for a big crevice of some sort!" she yelled back as she looked through the journal. "It should be large enough to let us pass"

"There, up ahead!" Zeus called to Akira as he took a sharp turn.

"All craft, make your mark 20 degrees down angle!" the Lieutenant called on the speakers.

The Leviathan right behind them, they hurried through the crevice and toward safety. In front of them, one of the larger submarine exploded, sending a wave that made their own submarine waver out of the way.

"It's just like a grease trap. It's just like a sink!" Yui couldn't help but think out loud, slightly panicking as she hugged her cat and the journal close to her.

Beams of blue light hit behind them repeatedly, sending them of course a few times, missing by little the walls of the tunnel.

Finally, the submarine tilted upward, and in less than thirty seconds, they broke the surface of the water into a dark cave. Akira and Zeus immediately came out of the submarine, and with a strong light, illuminated the interior of the cave.

Their eyes fell unto a gigantic structure that looked like an entrance to a palace. It looked like the mouth of a monster, inviting them to go down its throat and toward its stomach. If it hadn't been for the beast following them, Yui would have believed her theory of the guardian sculpture to be true. Alas, the casualties that had resulted in the attack of the Leviathan proved them wrong.

"We're alive. We- we made it out alive" she murmured to her cat as she stared out the window of the submarine, finding it incredible that she was still living.

Melissa meowed in her arms, begging to be let free. Yui unbuckled her seat belt and stood up, her cat taking its place back on her shoulders, as he usually does.

She followed the way back up and outside the submarine. From there, she looked around and she realized only her submarine and Loki and Anubis' pod had made it out of the wrecking. There was only a handful of them.

"Oh, Melissa…" She whispered "We made it out alive… but at what cost?"

Shaking her head so the tears wouldn't fall out from her eyes, Yui adopted a determined look. "Let's not make their sacrifice in vain"

With that last statement, she made her way to the beach with the others, with the firm intention of finding the lost empire, for the poor victims… and for Thor.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Girl and the Crew

**Hey guys! Sorry for the delay hehe. Been busy lately, and even if the chapters are written already, I have to check them again before the beta and all. So hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

 **The girl and the crew**

Once the submarines had been emptied and what remained of the crew was on shore, they hold a little ceremony in honor of all the crew members, friends and colleagues that had perished. Lighting a single candle held in a helmet, which Apollon gently put down on the water and set to drift, the crew stayed silent behind their commander. Zeus took a deep breath, and slowly started speaking.

"Seven hours ago, we started this expedition, with 200 of the finest men and women I've ever known. We're all that's left. I won't sugar-coat it, gentlemen. We have a crisis on our hand. But we've been up this particular creek before, and we've always come through, paddle or no paddle. I see no reason to change that policy now."

There was a small break, a moment of silence in honor of the lost ones. Yui silently cried, looking to the ground. This was madness… but they had come so far now, they couldn't back out. The loss of all those people made it even more important. Their death had to be significant. They couldn't let it mean nothing, which would happen if they backed up and went back home. They had to continue, march forward and keep going.

"From here on," Zeus spoke again "everyone pulls double duty. Everyone drives, everyone works."

As he climbed the stairs, he took another pause, and slowly turned around and looked at Yui. She looked up, as she felt every eyes on her, wiping the tears away from her eyes.

"Looks like all our chances for survival rests with you, Miss Kusanagi" his voice was solemn as the words downed on Yui. "You and that little book"

These people, they counted on her. She had to lead them to the lost empire. She- she had to. She really was their last hope.

As everyone moved, following the orders that were shouted by the commander, Yui found herself not knowing exactly where she should go. Realizing the girl seemed lost, Zeus walked up to her.

"Do you happen to know how to drive a car?" He asked.

"Oh- oh yeah sure, I, hum. Yes I think I can manage. I mean, it can't be all that different from, er, driving a bumper car from Coney Island, can it?"

Zeus sighed. He didn't have much of a choice but to let her drive, did he? With that, he left her behind and went for his own truck.

"Alright. It can't be that hard, right Melissa?"

The cat meowed in agreement. Little did he know it would be the worst ride of his life.

Yui climbed in her truck and started moving. She took the lead of the group with difficulty, but thought it would only take a little while for her to get used to it. Except that 15 minutes later, she was still slowing everyone down as she failed to drive her truck properly. The cars honking and voices calling behind her definitely did not help her.

"Alright everyone stop!" Yui heard Zeus voice from behind. "Tie that car behind the drill right away and let's get moving."

Quickly, Yui found her ride tied right behind the drill driven by Anubis. With a small pout, she turned the wheel. Was she really that bad?

They slowly made their way through the caves, guided by Yui reading the book. Often, they had to stop to give her the time to figure out where they were, and where they should be going. The road was fairly lonely, as nobody wanted to talk to her. She felt rejected from the group, her only company being her cat.

On the first night, she ate dinner by herself. She fell asleep in her truck, as Zeus decided they were not stopping and making camp before they were close enough to the Atlantis, which was still fairly far away.

What kept her from thinking about it was the journal. She went through every pages, translating every word, one by one, trying to make sense of all the sentence and what they meant. About at the middle of the book, she realized there was something missing, like a page or something. The information was incomplete, and it was really odd. The book, over all, was in incredibly good shape, since it had been made centuries ago. She shrugged it off, thinking it mustn't have been anything important. Maybe the page had gold on it, which seemed more valuable to a thief than the whole thing in itself, and that was why they took it. Hoping the missing page wasn't important, she stopped paying it any attention.

They reached a stop at a crossroad. Indeed, the path separated in two, each path passing through another cave that were in fact the empty eyes of a giant sculpture.

"Kusanagi! Which path does the book says we should take?" Zeus asked as he joined her, helping her out of the truck.

Standing in front of the crossroad, Yui took the book out and started reading, moving the book in every sense so she could read the lines written in the margin of the page. Melissa, standing on her shoulders as always, stared with great interest at the path on the left, like he had smelled something. Making up her mind, Yui gave her answer to the commander as she replaced her glasses on her nose.

"The book says it's the left one!" she decided.

Some words were poorly written, and she had to guess their meaning. She hoped that she had gotten the right one, since anything could happen if they were taking the wrong one. She embarked again in her truck as they started moving again toward what they thought to be the right path.

The second they were about to enter it, a giant bug monster came out of it, launching toward them. A cry left Yui's lips as she saw the thing, the others yelling to back away from there.

Back at their starting point, at the beginning of the crossroad, Yui analyzed the text again, and realized one on the word wasn't what she thought, and the right path was actually the correct answer. Her face bright red, she shyly pointed at the correct path as her colleagues stared at her, unimpressed.

They started moving again, and nothing attacked them this time. A few hours passed, and Yui was sleeping lightly in her truck when they came to an abrupt stop, waking her up instantly, and sending Melissa to the ground.

"Break time!" Zeus yelled from behind as the crew started pouring out of the trucks, chatting together.

They had been rolling for hours non-stop, and everyone was tense. The loss of their friends was too fresh in their memories. Chatting casually made it better in some way.

Yui climbed out of the truck, yawning. She grabbed a gourd and drank it all in one shot. The food made by Dionysus was… questionably alright, but he almost only served wine to drink, and Yui had some trouble finding water. Somehow, her gourd kept disappearing.

"Oh tell me you didn't just drink that" Loki said as he approached her, fiddling with a red box.

Yui nodded, suddenly afraid of what the man was going to say.

"Uh-oh. Not good. That was nitroglycerin."

The young woman gasped as her hand reached for her throat. Oh lord. What had she done? She couldn't die now! She was so close to her goal, she couldn't die! Tears filled her eyes, and she tried to fight them back.

"Alright, don't move, don't move a single inch, also don't breath. To be honest, all you have left to do is pray" the man said, the beginning of a smile tearing at the corner of his lips.

Almost giving in to fear, Yui closed her eyes. She didn't see what was coming next…

"Boom!" the light voice of Anubis rang from behind.

Yui yelled as she jumped hard, stumbling a few steps in front of where she was standing. The two men left her behind, laughing together at their good joke as they walked away… or so they believed. Yui sighed in exasperation. She wouldn't survive long enough to see the Atlantis, especially if these pseudo-specialists kept tricking her like they just did.

They started moving again about 15 minutes later. A few days passed like this, as they crossed colder places, warm zone and so on. Loki blew up a magnificent column to make a bridge, which horrified Yui. Did anyone in this crew have any respect for the architecture of the past? Or anything? It sure didn't feel like so. A thousand year old column that must have taken years, if not decades or centuries to create, had been blown up in mere seconds.

But instead of giving in to all the negative feelings, Yui kept reading the journal. Every once in a while, she would look at her and Thor's picture, reminiscing of old times. Sometimes, she swore she could hear his voice, telling her to never give up. Not after coming this far. Telling her that his life shouldn't have been in vain, and that she needed to succeed.

Melissa wasn't enjoying the voyage either. He would have been fine staying back at the big house, where mice ran in the rooms at night, and where he could have made a feast. Yet he was stuck here, and despite being with his master, whom he adores, this whole trip sucked a lot. Lots of water, barely anything good to eat except that guy's weird food, and no toys to play with. An incredibly boring trip, in Melissa's opinion.

The cat turned and looked at Yui, who was absorbed by her book. She barely petted him these days. Deciding he wanted all of her attention, Melissa left his place on the truck's bench and jumped right on the book, purring.

"Melissa! You're going to break the journal!" Yui exclaimed in surprised as she forced her cat to move aside.

" _Mrow_ " Melissa replied, giving his the big round eyes.

Yui always fell for that trick.

As expected, the woman sighed and gave him a smile. She closed the book, put it back in her bag at her feet and gently grabbed the cat, putting him down in her lap. She started petting him, and Melissa started purring louder.

"I have been neglecting you. Sorry, Melissa" Yui apologized as she scratched her cat behind the ears.

Melissa closed his eyes, enjoying the moment. Finally, he had all the attention he deserved. And he deserved a lot, especially for putting up with this stupid expedition.

They suddenly came to a stop, and Yui stopped petting Melissa, who opened his eyes and turned around. What was going on?

"A wall" Yui whispered so only her and Melissa could hear. "Let's go see what they'll do"

At first, Melissa jumped on the bench and wanted to stay behind, pouting. It was his time after all. Why did it have to end?

"Come on big baby, let's go see what's happening" Yui chuckled as she extended her arm toward the cat, inviting him to jump on her shoulders as he usually did.

There was a pause, and finally Melissa resigned himself and jumped on the shoulder. He was also curious as to why they had stopped anyway- and if the reason they had stopped was good enough to excuse the fact his petting session had been cut short.

Yui jogged toward the small group standing in front of the wall. Mostly, there was Anubis and Loki discussing with Zeus.

"Laevatein, can you blow up that wall?" Zeus asked to the bomb man.

"Nah, I don't have enough explosive anymore. Got a few cherry bomb left, about 10 dynamites bar, maybe a few things I made myself, but not enough to blow our way out, especially since we don't know how thick the wall is. I mean, maybe if we had some nitroglycerin, right, kitten?" Loki replied nonchalantly, checking through his bag full of explosives, sending an amused look at Yui as he finished his sentence.

"Is there another way around, Kusanagi?" Zeus turned toward the linguist, who was surprised to get attention.

"No, this is the only way the book mentioned" she replied curtly.

By now, she had memorised the entire road to the Atlantis and barely needed to check in the book to know if there was another way around.

"Alright. Ma'at, the drill."

"Wouhou!" the geologist exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air like a child who just heard the best new of his entire life. "Time to shine like a gem!"

He quickly climbed in the machine, and everyone stepped back behind so they would not get crushed. Yui sat back down in her own truck, ready to go again, but something went wrong.

The drill had started spinning normally, but as soon as it touched the wall, it shut down. There was no apparent reason for it to stop moving, and it was all in all very strange.

Takeru passed next to her and went straight behind it, not even sparing a look for her. He opened the doors leading to the engines and climbed in, inspecting everything. As the minutes passed, Yui wondered what was happening. She climbed out of her truck again, and followed Zeus, who was also going to inspect what was happening.

"I can't find the problem" Takeru sighed as he got his head out of the engines to look at the commander.

"Keep looking" Zeus said, walking off.

"If- if I may suggest-" Yui said, but was cut off by a dark look.

"I _am_ the engineer on this team. You are the linguist. I'm not going to do your job, so don't come and do mine" he grumbled.

He shuffled in the back of the drill some more, cursing under his breath.

"Don't touch anything, Weed, I'll be right back" he told her as he walked toward his own truck.

"W-weed? Who the hell is he taking me for?" Yui talked to herself as she turned around and looked at the engine.

Slightly bothered by being called a weed, she climbed in and started turning the wheels of the boilers. It seemed like a problem she faced a lot back at the museum, and she should be able to fix it. Finishing up, she hit the pipes with a wrench Takeru had left behind, and the machines roared to life.

"She lives!" Yui heard Anubis exclaim up front, making her smile.

She climbed out of the truck, a smile on her face. She knew she could do it. She knew it was something she was capable of, and that despite not being the engineer on the team, Takeru could have at least listened to her.

"How did you do it?" said engineer asked, eyes wide as he stared at her and the now functioning drill.

"Oh, nothing very impressive. The boiler in this machine is a Humac model P-54 stroke 813, and we got the 814 back at the museum. The heating core of the Humac line is always, you know, it's a bit temperamental. Turned a few wheels, a few hit with a wrench in the right place- common problems with these boilers You just have to persua-" she started rambling, standing straighter as she proudly announced her doing, in a way to prove she was in fact right.

"Yeah yeah, whatever Weed, shut up. Now go back to your own job" Takeru muttered as he closed the doors and walked back where he was coming from.

"My name is Kusanagi, not Weed!" She called back as she walked to her truck too.

"Exactly what I said. Kusa right?" Takeru smiled back at her "Doesn't it mean the same thing?"

Yui felt her face turn red as she promptly climbed back in her truck. How dare he…? She hadn't spoken her mother tongue in years, and didn't think that it would backfire on her that way. To believe just correcting him on her own name… this boy was really frustrating.

The drill now perfectly working, they started moving again toward the lost empire. The rest of the road happened without a problem. They finally reached a point that was indicated on the map. It was a huge sort of lantern made of rock, carved directly on the ceiling.

Zeus decided to make camp there, right before the bridge, as there was enough space for everyone to settle down with their tent, and keeping the trucks and the drill close.

They lighted up fires and sat down in small groups around them… well, except for Yui and Melissa, who chose a nice place where they could settle down a wooden box to use as a table. Yui would probably go through the Shepherd's journal yet once again.

"If only Thor was here" She whispered, looking at her picture.

She missed him greatly, especially now that they were so close to their goal. She was just about to succeed. Yui wished her mentor and friend could have been there to see her succeed.

Back at the fire, the group of experts were looking at her, barely eating the food Dionysus had made.

"Maybe we should cut her some slack? Can we invite her with us? Can we?" Apollon pleaded as he put down his tray of food.

"Yeah you're right" Takeru sighed.

"Oh yes let's invite the kitten so I can have some fun~" Loki mused as he unwrapped a candy.

"How about you keep your tricks to yourself for once, Loki" Balder said, munching on something that looked like dry meat.

Where did he get that anyway?

"Alright I'll call her. Hey Weed! Come over here!" Takeru called her, smiling.

"Yes come sit with us! Come sit with us!" Apollon added, looking like a kid.

"A-are you sure you don't mind?" Yui called back from her seat, surprised by the sudden invitation.

"Come on, just come sit with us, Miss Kusanagi" Balder added, showing her a rock next to him.

She slowly got to her feet and walked toward the group, sitting down on the rock Balder was showing her. She sat on it, putting her tray of… strange food on her knees, opening her book and starting reading as she ate. The others made small chat together as she read. Despite her not participating, it felt better than eating alone. And Melissa seemed to appreciate the attention he got from Apollon.

"Hey Weed, don't you ever put that book down?" Takeru commented after a few minutes of staring at her.

"Yeah, you must have read it a dozen times by now, Yui Kusanagi" Tsukito added as he slowly ate his own food- the Caesar salad, according to Dionysus.

It looked more like someone threw up. And it was way too greasy for anyone's liking.

"I have but… there's a part that just doesn't make sense. I keep reading it over and over again, but I can never quite understand what they meant. You see here, in this passage, it seems like it's leading to something. He calls it the heart of the Atlantis, which I am guessing is the power source the legend refers to. But after that… it cuts off. It looks like there's a missing page."

"Oh just relax, kitten. We're not paid overtime y'know."

"Oh-oh. I know, sorry" Yui blushed heavily, a small smile finding its way to her lips. "I just get carried away sometimes. Thor and I could ramble hours like that when I was younger." She laughed to herself, remembering the old times. "But this is so amazing! You know what this is about! Teamwork, adventure… unless you guys are in it for the money?"

"Money" Takeru and Tsukito said, at the same time, the engineer shrugging.

"Money" Anubis also added, finishing his plate.

"I have to admit I'm in it for the money too" Apollon said.

"Aaah I'm gonna go with money" Loki answered.

"As much as this is going to be an amazing discovery… money is my answer too" Balder admitted as he gave the last of his food to Anubis, who seemed to love it.

"I guess I kinda set that one for myself" Yui laughed, massaging her neck.

"Is something wrong with your neck? Can I help you with it? Can I?" Apollon pleaded as he passed behind her.

"Uh, sure I guess…"

Apollon picked Melissa up, put him on the ground and got to work. In a few seconds, he twisted Yui's neck in different direction, making it crack loudly.

"How do you feel now? How do you feel?"

"I… I feel a lot better! Thanks Apollon" the young linguist smiled at him.

They chatted together for a while, Melissa passing from person to person to be petted, until he got back to his master. The evening was overall very nice, and Yui hadn't had this much fun since she left for this expedition. The men were actually very kind and funny, save for the weird nicknames.

"Alright now that you all ate your _entrée,_ here comes the main course!" Dionysus announced, coming back with his cauldron full of- of whatever that mixture was.

"No no we're fine! I'm not hungry anymore"

"Ah I'm, eh, watching my line"

"Thank you we've had enough"

"Alright then, I'll be keeping it for next time. I'll be keeping it. Anyone want wine?"

"No!"

There was a common sigh of relief as the cook left. Dionysus was really nice, but his cooking was, erm, how to say. Horrible. Yes, horrible was the word.

After that, they started setting up camp for the night, as it was getting fairly late and they needed their rest. Everything was going okay for everyone… except Yui.

Yui hadn't set up a tent since the last time she and Thor went camping, which was a good decade ago. And Thor was the one to set up the tent, not her. So her knowledge in tent building was very… little.

"You should set up your tent, kitten. I'm not letting you sleep in mine~"

"I-I did set up my tent…" she said, disappointed as she looked at it.

It didn't look like a tent at all. It was as disastrous as Dionysus' cooking.

Loki sighed and shook his head. He put down his own mattress and came to Yui's rescue, setting her tent up correctly for her. The girl stared at him do, grateful that he didn't leave her to her problems.

"I'm a little rusty at it I guess" she joked once Loki was done.

"Not just a little, I'd say"

"I haven't gone camping since the last time Thor took me there." Yui admitted as she could finally settle down in the tent.

"I never got to meet him. What was he like?" Takeru asked as he finished setting up his tent too.

"Oh, where should I start" Yui smiled as she unrolled her mattress. "He took me in when I was a kid, all alone. I was far from my home, and my parents had died. He found me and he raised me. He was more of a brother to me really." She laughed fondly as she remembered him and all their adventure.

"What's so funny?" Takeru couldn't help but chuckle.

"Well, you see, this one time we were hiking along this stream, and something shiny in the water caught my eyes. I was eight back then, and very curious. So I reached out for it and realized it was a genuine arrowhead! The way Thor talked about it, you would have believed I had found some sort of lost civilization. It was only when I was much older that I realized the arrowhead was just some compressed shale mixed with zinc and something shiny in a triangular shape."

"That is so cute!" Anubis commented as he passed by, on the way to his own tent, holding a small wolf plush toy in his arms, looking more child-like than ever.

Anubis was really… odd.

"So how come you, a girl, became a linguist?" Takeru kept asking as he settled down on his mattress.

Everyone was pretty much ready to go to bed, but they all looked at Yui expectantly.

"Well, I grew up hearing about the Atlantis and everything from Thor, so of course it rubbed off on me" she giggled "I just find it absolutely fascinating. History is amazing, dead languages are so interesting and full of knowledge. But mostly, it was because of Thor. As I said, finding the Atlantis was his dream to start with, and eventually it became our dream. I wish he could be here with us right now."

"I'm sure he looks after you wherever he is, Yui" Balder smiled sadly at her.

"So how did you guys end up on this expedition?"

"My dad retired from his job. His and my dream is to open up a new machine shop, but he is now too old to go on with it. I'm here to make money so we, too, can accomplish our dream. I mostly heard about it from my brothers, since they were already on the team back in Iceland, and I easily got the job. I wished I had gotten to be part of the first expedition and meet Thor too, you know."

"How about you, Loki?" Yui turned to him as his tent was next to hers.

"My parents used to own a flower shop, and I worked there. One time I'm making those prom bracelet with flowers that girls wear, and it was a nightmare. 'Does it match my dress? Is that the right color? Where is my flower?!' Horrible nightmare, I swear. Then there was this explosion next door and I found myself flying through the windows, and then I just had an illumination, and here I am. Is that enough for you, kitten?"

"Yeah pretty much" Yui laughed gently.

Meanwhile, they saw Anubis turning around on four legs, like a dog preparing his bed, and finally laying down with a sigh of contentment.

"What's Anubis' stories though?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know! You really don't want to know!" Apollon said. "Take-Take, you don't say it to Miss Fairy. You said it to me, and now I'm scarred for life. Scarred for life!" he threw his hands in the air in a very dramatic way.

An evil smile stretched on Takeru's lips as he was about to reply, but Balder cut him off before he could say anything Yui might regret hearing.

"Time to sleep, kids" Balder said as he blew on the small flame burning in the oil lamp.

* * *

Yui was curled up on her bed, Melissa close to her, but she couldn't sleep. Her mind ran at a thousand miles per second. Finally deciding to go take a walk around camp, she left the warmth of her bed and her cat behind, her satchel containing her most precious belongings on her shoulder.

Melissa decided to accompany his master, scared that something might happen to her. He silently followed her around as Yui's flashlight illuminated the way in front of her. The night was fresh, but it felt good.

As she walked, she illuminated the cavern, watching the strange architecture, especially that of the lantern. As the light passed on it, the green glow they had seen earlier started burning brighter, and small dots of light came flying down, but Yui hadn't noticed them.

She kept walking until she got to the precipice. She started walking back toward camp as the bugs arrived around her. She swatted them away with the back of her hand at first, not hitting a single one. Finally, she took an unused book and hit one with it. The book instantly caught fire, making her drop it to the ground. She stared at the light bugs go, her eyes finally setting on the camp, where the first bugs already were landing on the tents. Eyes wide, Yui had only seconds to think.

"Fire! The camp is on fire!" She yelled as she ran through the rows of tents.

"Kusanagi, if you don't go back to sleep I swear- oh dear lord" Zeus started, without ever getting the chance to finish his sentence.

The whole camp was ablaze. Akira happened to pass by, ordering the others to throw water at the burning fires.

"Get us to the caves!" Zeus ordered to everyone as he gathered his stuff quickly and running toward the trucks.

Rapidly, everyone was in the trucks, driving toward the caves up ahead, right after the bridge. The urgency of the situation made everyone forget their fears and forced them to go forward, toward safety.

Halfway through the bridge, one of the truck containing gas caught fire, and exploded. It sent other trucks into chaos, and all the explosion finally made the lantern break up ahead, falling directly behind the vehicles.

Everyone desperately tried to go forward, but alas the drill was too heavy, and fell backward, bringing everyone down with it.

Screams, tires screaming from the breaks being hit hard, and crashing sounds were all that could be heard in the cavern. In the pitch black darkness, there was no way to find out if anyone had survived.


	4. Chapter 4 - The Girl and the Boy

**Hey guys! Hope you are all doing well! Sorry for the delayed chapter, I've been pretty busy! I started an internship this week and all! But! Chapter is now out and ready for you to enjoy! As always, thanks to Dragon-overlord-yuu for the beta 3**

 **Note: There are two lines in this chapter that are in Atlantean. One of them, Kida's original line, was taken somewhere on the internet where someone did a good transcription. The other, Milo's, was done by me. It's written phonetically, since I can not find the correct line anywhere. It is what I hear is being said, so it could be wrong. But hey! it's just a fanfic so who cares.**

 **Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

It was completely dark when Yui opened her eyes. She couldn't distinguish anything. The only thing she knew was that she had a raging pain in her right shoulder, making it impossible to move or even breathe properly.

"Melissa..." she whispered, trying not to think about the worse. "Melissa, where are you?"

" _Mrow_ " she heard the familiar sound right next to her, right before feeling a gentle nudge on her arm.

"Thank goodness, you are alright…" she nearly sobbed as she raised her good arm to pet his head.

Yui closed her eyes. Oh lord… was she going to die? Was it her end? Now, of all times? To believe that it was her fault…

In the distance, she heard people calling her name, but Yui didn't have the strength to reply. She wanted to scream, and say she was fine, but she couldn't gather enough breath to do it. She dared crack an eye open, as she heard something strange, something she knew but couldn't quite understand… and her gaze fell on the strangest thing.

In front of her stood three people, holding some sort of weapon in their hands. They were staring at her, talking in their tongue, poking at her glasses. They were hidden under a huge mask of some sort, forbidding Yui from seeing who these people were.

She tried to back away, but her back was directly against a rock, and her left shoulder made it impossible. As she strangled a moan, her hand pressing against the wound, she closed her eyes. She wanted to tell them to finish her, and quickly, to put her out of her misery before she died. But that's not what happened.

The tallest of the figures approached her, crouching in front of her. Yui stared in horror at the mask. It looked slightly different from the others. It was decorated with gold and more riches.

As Yui started to tear up a bit from the pain, the person in front of her removed the mask and she was stunned.

Under the mask was a tall, dark skinned man with snowy hair. He had deep blue eyes that stared back at her with interest. He had some blue marks on his face and bare chest, which illuminated by a strange glow.

More amazed and interested in the person than scared, Yui didn't move away as the man took the crystal around his neck and gently pressed the tip of it against her wound. He then pressed his hand against it, making Yui gasp for air. When he removed it, she gasped again and stared at him wide eyed. The pain was completely gone… and so was the blood! How could this be?

He gave her a smile as they heard a crashing sound behind. He looked toward where it was coming from, put his mask back on and left with the other two masked person.

"Wait!" Yui yelled back at him, but it was too late.

She looked at the drill coming through from the other side of the cave, and decided following these strange people was far more important. Who could they be?

Melissa ran behind her and climbed back on Yui's shoulders as the girl clumsily followed the people, tripping a few times on her way.

"Wait! Who are you? Where are you going? Please wait!" she yelled back at them, without ever stopping from running. "Please come back!"

She climbed and jumped on rocks, not bothered by the sweat breaking on her forehead, almost blinding her as it fell through her eyebrows and into her eyes. Half blind, she finally reached a breach in the wall, and passed through it.

"Hey, wait a minute! Who are you?" She yelled again as she reached the end of the rock she was standing on, and her eyes fell on the most beautiful thing ever.

Behind her, the drill arrived as she stared. Yui couldn't believe her eyes. In front of her was a gigantic sort of island, surrounded by waterfalls. In the middle, far away from them, they could see a small bit of earth, and on it, a city.

Yui was joined by the others quickly, who stared with her at the beauty in front of them. They had made it. They had found the lost continent of the Atlantis. _She_ had made it. A tear rolled down her face as she grinned happily. Death could take her now if she wanted, she had made it to the Atlantis.

As they stared, they heard some sort of screeching coming from behind them. As they turned around, Yui saw the people that had healed her earlier, the ones that had led her to this place.

"Holy falcon, who are these guys?" Zeus said, reaching for his dagger attached at his belt, placing himself in front of Yui.

"They- they are Atlanteans!" Yui started in a whisper, her voice rising as a smile spread on her face, realising who had saved her.

"Stop saying non-sense, that's impossible." Akira talked back, obviously disturbed by Yui's enthusiasm.

"Neshingentem Gebrin Deh penyokh. Leb ehsenekh dup duwerentop? Lut suldúpenekh dap?" the person with the richly decorated mask spoke first, his tone fairly angry.

It took a moment for Yui to analyze what he had just said. She was overwhelmed by the fact they had found the lost continent, and now they had met the locals.

"I think _it's_ talking to you, Kusanagi" Anubis commented, pulling on Yui's coat sleeve.

"Oh- hum…"

She quickly tried to translate from memory. It was something along the lines of "who are you strangers? Where are you from?"

Slowly approaching the group of people, Yui tried her best to answer. "Lebe, hum… senekhda duwerren… tob. Letsodu penekhda" she said, pretty unsure of it, but sure enough she had answered the question.

Yui had very basically said who they were, very, very simply. Reading Atlantean and speaking it were two very different thing.

The boy removed his mask again and took a step closer to Yui. He asked another question in Atlantean, to which Yui replied with more certainty. As the conversation went on, Yui started realizing something. Maybe they would understand another language. The way the boy spoke… it would make sense.

"Ita, sum amice viator." Yui tested her theory with Latin, saying _Yes, I am a friendly traveller_

"Dices linguam Romae?" The boy smirked as he leaned toward Yui.

As her cheeks became a nice pink shade, Yui barely had any trouble translating that last line. _Do you speak the language of Rome?_

" _Parlez-vous français?"_ She smiled brightly.

" _Oui Mademoiselle!_ " the man happily answered.

As the two groups merged together, greeting each other in different language, notably German and Spanish, Yui got closer to the man who had saved her.

God, was he beautiful. Men were never really interesting to her, as she was almost always busy with her studies and research. She had never felt the need to find a husband either. But now… seeing him, he who had saved her life despite not even knowing her… it was a strange feeling.

The man gave her a smile and walked toward the precipice, as Takeru arrived just behind Yui.

"How do they even know all these languages? They've been stuck here for like. Ever. How could they have learn this stuff?"

"Their languages must be based on a root dialect. It's just like the tower of Babel!" Yui explained.

"Alright, calm down, Nerd."

"My name's Yui Kusanagi, not Weed or Nerd"

"Yeah whatever, Weed" Takeru laughed.

"We better hope English is in there somewhere" Zeus grumbled as he passed behind them.

"Why don't you ask them, commander" Takeru snorted.

He didn't expect Zeus to actually do it. Well, sort of.

"We are explorers from the surface world. We come in peace"

"Well then, welcome to the city of Atlantis" the boy said, a bright smile on his face as he showed off the city in the middle of the continent. "Now come. You must speak with my father"

Without any more formalities, the boy grabbed Yui's wrist and forced her to follow him.

* * *

They walked for a while, crossing the bridge leading to the continent, passing right over a chasm of lava.

Yui was now seated next to Akira and Zeus, scribbling down notes about the Atlantean language. She was starting to understand more of its structure, realizing that if you added some of the currently known language, such as Sumerian and Thessalonian, which were overlaid with Latin, you would get something closer to what she had heard. She was absolutely excited about this discovery. In fact, everything happening at this very moment was exciting. There was no way in all hell she was going to sleep tonight. Especially if the face of the boy who had saved her kept haunting her.

They crossed another bridge, the city getting closer and closer. All around them were houses on islands, boats and docks all around the place. She noted that these people seemed to get their food mostly from the sea.

As they got closer, Yui could get a better look at where they were going too, and her jaw dropped. In front of them was what seemed to be a castle of some sort, rising up toward the sky, statues holding in their hands cups containing the fire lighting their way. It looked amazing at dawn… Yui wondered how great it would look like in daylight.

"You're going to catch a fly, or whatever bug flies around here if you keep your mouth open like that" Loki said as he passed by her truck.

"But have you seen this? It looks amazing! How are you not in awe?"

"Hmm… I don't know. Mostly wondering how much dynamite it would take to make the thing crumble"

"Loki-Loki!" Apollon grounded him. "Don't say that to Miss Fairy! She's so happy to have found the Atlantis! She really is!"

Miss… Fairy? Oh great, another nickname… Weed, Kitten, Nerd and now Fairy… Yui couldn't help but wonder what was going to be the next one, and who was going to give it to her.

They finally came to a stop down a flock of stairs. The tall boy, who had been leading the way, turned around and gave them a small smile.

"Come on, we're almost there."

Only Yui, Akira and Zeus followed the boy up the stairs and toward the throne room. The lesser they were, the better it was going to be.

The doors opened on a big room, which looked like an interior garden. Birds flew over them as Yui stared once more at the beautiful architecture of the place. How could this place have survived a flood, and being stuck underground over a thousand years ago, and still look this amazing? How did they do it?

Yui's attention turned to her savior as the boy stood in front of the man sitting on a strange throne, which looked more like a couch as they would have been able to sit on it all at the same time.

" _Greetings, your Highness. I have brought some visitors"_ the boy's low voice said in Atlantean, as he sank to his knees, arms raised in front of his bowed head, like he was praying.

If she wasn't able to properly speak it, Yui perfectly understood the language. And that was a good thing right at this moment. She also understood that what the boy was doing was some sort of formality. Doing as best as she could, the young linguist knelt down and imitated him, paying her respect to the King.

" _You know the law, Thoth. No outsiders may see the city alive"_ The king replied, his tone harsh.

Said King was sitting on his throne, dressed in a long robe. Nothing indicated his status as the ruler of Atlantis. He had curly, white hair, which were half tied back on his head, leaving his face undisturbed by hairs. His eyes were completely white, no iris or pupils. The same blue tattoos Yui had been seeing on the people of Atlantis' face and body also covered the King's face, except he had more than the average man. They went under his hair and across his nose, giving him a certain style.

" _Father- these people… they may be able to help us! They may be able to save our peoples!"_ the boy started getting carried away, a touch of anger already in his voice.

Yui started taking down notes from the conversation and the environment around them. God, she had to keep track of everything…

" _We do not need their help"_ the king concluded, obviously deciding this conversation with his son was over.

The boy lowered his head, just to rise it back again, anger now visible on his face. " _But father-"_ he tried to plead, but was immediately cut off.

" _That is enough"_ his tone was like acid, even if the King kept a straight face. " _We will discuss this matter later_ "

Putting away her note book, seeing that the boy who saved her wasn't going to defy his father any longer, keeping his head low, Yui slowly stood up. What should they do now? This was no good. They were not welcomed here… but she couldn't go away just yet! She still had a lot to do here! She wanted to learn everything from this nation, their culture, their ways, their traditions- absolutely everything.

"Your Majesty?" Zeus intervened, and Yui wasn't quick enough to stop him. "On behalf of my crew, may I say it is an honor to be welcomed to your city" he bowed in a form of respect.

Oh no. He was going to make things worse…

"You presume much to think you are welcomed here" The king replied in English, his eyebrows furrowing over his blank eyes.

"Oh sir, we have come a long way looking for-" Zeus started speaking, but the king interrupted him.

"I know what you seek, strangers. But you will not find it here. Your journey has been in vain."

"But we are peaceful explorers- men- and women - of science!" Zeus tried to plead his cause.

The king chuckled bitterly. "And yet you bring weapons with you on a peaceful mission."

"They are only to assure us a safe trip, and remove obstacles we may encounter. We swear our intentions are purely pacific."

Yui shook her head low as she listened to the conversation. She was scared Zeus was screwing up their chances to be allowed to stay here… and for her to study everything.

"You should know… some obstacles cannot be removed with a mere show of force. Return to your own kind. You must leave Atlantis immediately" the king proclaimed as he stood up, taking his wooden scepter in one hand.

"Oh sir, please be reasonable!"

"S-sir, we should do as he says" Yui resigned herself and spoke up.

As much as she wanted to stay, they couldn't do it without the king's approval, and doing so without it would be wrong, and Yui knew Thor would never approve of such a thing.

"May I respectfully request that we stay only one night? We have come a long way, and my men are tired. They need to rest before we go back to our world."

There was a moment of silence where the king considered the proposal. "Fine. One, only night. But you must be gone in 24 hours."

"Thank you, Your Highness" Zeus bowed again, a triumphant smile on his face.

As they left, Yui looked back, and her eyes met with the boy's blue gaze. He looked angry and… sad. He looked sad to see them go away, like they were his last chance, his last trick. The door closed behind her as she teared her gaze away from his, following the commander and the lieutenant back to the others.

* * *

In the throne room, the King sat back down with a sigh. He might have seemed young at first look, but he could feel the years getting to him and slowly bringing him down. He didn't have much time left, but he still had to do what he could for his people.

"Your heart has softened, Thoth. Falling for the pretty eyes of a girl. A thousand years ago, you would have slain them on sight." He said as he laid down on his throne.

"A thousand years ago, the streets were lit and we did not have to scavenge for our food at the edge of a crumbling city!" he walked up the stairs, and using the crystal hanging around his neck, lit up the small lantern hanging from the fabric ceiling. "Besides, I did not do it because I have any interest in that girl. I did it because we need their help father, whether you like it or not."

"The people are content, unlike how you make it seem."

"It's because they do not know any better!" Thoth said in a cold voice. "We were once great, and now we are falling apart, just like the statues. We live in ruins. The kings of our past would weep if they saw us now!"

He was getting carried away. Thoth was a brave prince, and he wanted what was best for his people. If it meant getting the help from strangers, especially from the girl who spoke their language, it would change everything.

"Thoth" Hades sighed.

"If these outsiders can unlock the secret of our past, maybe we'll be able to prevent our future from being catastrophic" Thoth finished in a low tone, calming down a little.

"These people, they do not know anything we have not already learnt. They have nothing to teach us"

"Our way of life is dying father! Can't you see? We need help. We have to try something with these people."

"Our way of life is preserved, my son. When you take the throne, Thoth, you will understand what I mean"

* * *

"How did it go? How did it go in there?" Apollon charged them first thing as soon as the small group came down the stairs.

"It went, herm, not so well. The king and his son don't see things the same way. The prince seems to like us, but the king… I don't know, I think he's hiding something." Yui started explaining.

"Well if he's hiding something, I want to know what it is" Zeus announced, turning around to face the group.

"Someone needs to talk to that boy" Akira smiled as he looked straight at Yui.

"I will go!" Anubis rose his hand right under the commander's face.

"Hmm… someone with good people kills" Loki added, patting his chin with a mischievous smile on his face.

"I will do it!" Anubis repeated again.

"Someone who won't scare him away. Someone who's not scary at all!" Apollon added, nodding.

"I volunteer for this mission" Anubis tried to get their attention.

"Someone who can speak the language too" Tsukito added.

"For the good of the mission, I will sacrifice myself for this" the geologist was definitely determined to do it, for some unknown and most likely strange reasons.

"Alright Kusanagi, thank you for volunteering" Zeus said as he gently patted Yui on the back, making her jump as she had been reading her notes again.

"Go get him, Weed" Takeru gently nudged Yui's arm with his elbow, giving her a smile as he forced a crying Anubis to walk away.

* * *

Yui was left behind to get the prince's attention, with the intention to have some sort of conversation with him. The only thing is, her heart was pounding against her ribcage, and she could feel her face extremely warm. Good lord… why couldn't they let Anubis do it?

Hidden behind a column, she passed in review her plan, how she would aboard him and everything. She had only one chance, and the whole mission depended on her and this very important moment.

Melissa was sitting down by her feet, checking her as she paced back and forth behind the column.

"Alright, calm down Yui. You simply don't take no for an answer." She took a deep breath and decided to rehearse what she was going to say. "Look, I have some questions for you and I'm not leaving this city before they are answered! Oh no, this can't be good. Isn't it too straightforward? What do you think Melissa?"

The cat meowed in encouragement. "Yeah you're right. I should- I should just give it a try. Alright, here goes nothing"

Yui turned around and peeked back at the door, but the prince wasn't there anymore.

"I don't understand he was there seconds ago!"

As she started turning around, strong arms took her from behind, a hand placing itself right over her mouth, muffling the cry of surprise Yui had made.

"I have some questions for you, and I'm not letting you leave the city before they are answered" The prince's deep voice said right in her ear.

She could hear the smile in his voice at his successful attempt to catch her by surprise.

"Well, I-" Yui started to reply, being able to escape the grip of his hand for a few seconds.

"Hush. Don't make a sound… and follow me"

Taking her by the arm, Yui was forced to follow the prince. At one point, he had let her go as they reached a passage large enough for one person to pass through it. Yui silently followed the man, Melissa right behind her, her heart pounding so hard against her chest she thought it was going to come out of it.

On the way, she couldn't help but stop and admire her surroundings. Despite being in a sort of embarrassing situation, Yui was reminded she had made it to the Atlantis, and that it was a beautiful city… the prince's hand hurrying her to keep going was what brought her back from staring as she started following him again.

They finally reached a small clearing in a sort of forest. The prince stood there, hands on his hips, looking toward the horizon.

"Oh, there is so much I want to ask about your world. You're a scholar are you not?"

"I- what?"

"Well, judging from your clothes and your small physique, plus the fact you are not wearing a dress or more elegant clothes despite being a woman, you must be a scholar. Where are you from anyway?"

"I, hum, am from Japan but I was raised in America… wait you're going too fast, I have questions too!"

The prince saw Melissa and reached for him, raising him in the air and studying him. "Is this what you call a cat?"

"Yes, it is, his name is Melissa. Now please, give me a chance! How about we do this. I ask one question, you ask one, and vice versa until we're done?"

The prince considered her proposition for a moment, stealing Yui's glasses and trying them on as he answered. "Sounds good." He conceded, his voice betraying his discontent. "What is your first question then?" he asked, giving her back the cat and the glasses.

"Well, uh okay alright… how did you get here? I mean, not you, because I know how you got _here_ since I was there, but your people… your culture! I mean, how did all of this end down here?" she blurted out as she cleaned her glasses with her shirt and put them back on.

Her savior started walking again as he carefully chose his words for his answer. "They say that the gods became jealous of Atlantis. So they sent a great cataclysm and banished us here. I was pretty young when it happened, so all I remember was the sky suddenly going dark, and people shouting and running in every direction. And then there was this- this bright light, like a star or something, but much closer. It was floating right above the city. My- my father says it called my mother to it. After that… I never saw her again"

His tone had been neutral as he said the story of Atlantis sinking in the waters, but as soon as he started talking about his mother, there was some sort of sadness in his voice, the same Yui had seen in his eyes. The prince didn't seem like the kind of person to let his emotion out a lot, except when it was anger.

"Oh, I'm so sorry for this… I don't know if this is going to be any comfort to you, but I lost my parents when I was a child too, so I know how you feel… woah wait a minute. You were there when it all happened? But- but that would make you something like… wait, 5, 6, 7… 800 years old! And you look so- so!"

"Well, yes."

"Oh, hum, well. You-you're looking pretty fine for your age, hum." Yui cleared her throat, obviously embarrassed by her comment. "Do you have any other question for me or something?"

"Yes. How come _you_ found this place?" he asked, amused.

"Oh! Oh that wasn't easy. If it weren't for this book, we would never have made it"

As soon as Yui got the book out, the prince took it away from her and looked through it, eyes wide.

"Okay, second question! The book mentions your people have some sort of source of power that enabled them…"

"You mean you understand this?" The prince whispered without looking away from the book.

"Well yeah, I'm a linguist after all. You were right about me being a scholar. That's what I do, that's my job, translating dead languages is my specialty. Now back to my question" Yui answered, but was immediately cut off again.

"This- this right here, you can read it?" he pushed the book in Yui's face, showing her the text.

"Y-yes I can, just like y- oh. You can't read it, can you?" she realized, seeing the surprise on the boy's face.

"No one here can. It's been lost since the time of the Mehbelmok." The prince shrugged it off.

"The great flood" Yui murmured to herself.

"Please show me" the boy requested as he handed back the book to Yui, who almost dropped it from the force he had used.

"Hum okay let's see…"

Yui started reading a passage in the book out loud, walking off as she did so. The boy translated the sentences in English at the same time.

"Follow the narrow passage for another league. There you will find the fifth maker"

Yui glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, smiling softly. He was cute, that was a fact, especially as he looked so intrigued to know what the book was saying.

"Yes that's exactly it! How was my accent?"

"Hmm. Boorish, provincial. Plus you speak it through you nose." He said frankly, gently poking her nose. "You gotta work on that!"

"Ah, yeah sure…" she laughed, a bit uneasy.

"Come on, I have something to show you."

They passed through a bush, and Yui found something hidden under a blanket. The prince walked over to it and with a swift move of his hand, removed the fabric, revealing some sort of stone fish, which also strangely looked like you could get on it.

"It looks like some sort of vehicle" She commented, approaching the thing, passing a curious hand over it.

"It is, but no matter what I do or try, it won't work. It just will not respond to anything, and I really want to make it work. I thought maybe you could-"

"Yeah, ahead of you!" Yui smiled as she sat down on the engine and started reading the inscription. "Okay, first thing is 'Place crystal into slot'"

"Yes, I have done that" the prince nodded as he started pacing around, holding his chin in his hand.

"Okay, hum… Gently place your hand on the inscription pad"

"Yes, yes all done, never worked" he grumbled.

"Fine, well, did you turn the crystal one-quarter and then turn back?"

"Yes. Yes!" he grabbed his head in his hand in desperation.

" _While_ your hand was on the pad?" Yui concluded.

"Ye- no. No I haven't done that"

"Well there you are, problem solved" Yui smiled sweetly. "How about you give it a try?"

The prince took Yui's place as soon as the linguist moved to the side, put his hand on the pad and slid the crystal into the slot. He turned it a quarter, then turned back. The pad and the inscription lit up as the engine screeched, slowly rising up from the ground. They both stared wide eyed, smiling like children.

"Oh lord, this is great! This is amazing! With this, I could see the whole city in no time at all!" Yui got carried away as she inspected the floating machine. "I wonder how fast it goes"

She put only one finger on the pad, and suddenly the engine went flying forward at full speed. It crashed around on the walls and ceiling, breaking a few things. As it went behind them and flew back forward, the boy took Yui by the waist and he threw himself to the ground, bringing her down with him just before they got hit by the vehicle.

The floating fish crashed into a wall, breaking instantly. It was obviously out of use now. Feeling embarrassed, Yui looked at the prince with a guilty smile.

"So, who's hungry?"

* * *

After leaving the now destroyed vehicle behind them, the prince brought Yui somewhere else, where she doubted they were going to get food. They started climbing up a column, Yui almost tripping a few times. How glad she was she had chosen trousers over dresses for this expedition!

"We've never been properly introduced, I believe" she said as she climbed behind him, following his steps to get good grips. "My name's Yui"

"My name is Thoth Djehuty Caduceus"

"Thoth Djehut- dje, hum… Do you have a nickname, by pure hazard?"

He chuckled as he looked down at her. "Just call me Thoth."

"Oh, I can remember that" Yui giggled as she struggled to get to the top of the column.

Thoth extended his hand, helping her climb to the top. As soon as they were standing side by side, Yui's eyes opened wide again as she saw the whole city… no, the whole _continent_ under her. It was a fairly big island, settled in the middle of a great waterbody. Flying animals passed in front of them as Yui took in the sight, tears filling her eyes yet another time today.

"What's wrong?" Thoth asked as he saw the girl wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Finding this place… it's been my life's dream, and I took it from someone who meant a lot to me. He used to tell me stories about this place, and how much he wanted to see it… I just wish he could be here with me right now"

Thoth smiled gently. "I'm sure he's watching over you, wherever he is, and he must be proud. The trip to this place is far from easy, and such a small, fragile woman as you made it alive. You must be stronger than you appear, for a scholar"

"I guess. But now I'm really hungry"

"Alright, let's go get something to eat then."

They did the way back down the column and back toward the city.


	5. Chapter 5 - The Girl and the Mural

**Hey guys! Took a while to write the new chapter because I had problem with my plug for my computer and all! But here we are- the deleted scene chapter. I call it that, because while it mostly follows the main story line, I added a few scene because I wanted something to happen which does not in the movie. So I hope you enjoy this little extra scene!**

 **Thank Yuu for the beta :v (pun intended)**

* * *

As soon as they reached the village, Thoth started by showing Yui around. They started their tour by the docks, where men just came back from a fishing trip, strange lobster-like creature filling their boats and baskets. Yui held one for a few seconds before it started trying to catch her nose with its pincer. Thoth took it as he laughed, biting its neck, making it go still immediately. He put it in Yui's satchel as they started walking again toward what looked like a market.

"How about you tell me more about your companions?" Thoth requested.

"Uh sure, which one should I talk about?"

"Hm. The physician?"

"Who? Apollon? He's actually our doctor. Strange boy, if you want my opinion. He repeats everything twice, and can really invade one's personal space." Yui chuckled gently "But he's really nice overall."

"Alright. How about the little one?"

"The little one? Takeru? He's our mechanic."

"No, the other one, the one with dark skin like us"

"Ooooh. That's Anubis. I wouldn't know what to tell you about him, actually. Apollon told Takeru never to tell me his story so just that makes me reluctant to knowing it…"

"Fine. How about… the one you call commander?"

"Zeus? Well… he's the chief of the expedition. Rough man, but I guess he can be kind too."

They went on like that until they reached the house where they had been invited for dinner. Children passed by them as they walked, a little boy taking hold of Yui's hand and inviting her to follow him to the house.

During dinner, Thoth made a summary of what he had understood about Yui's companions, as Melissa hid himself from the curious children behind their back.

"So you have your bimbo who financed this whole expedition, your doctor is an idiot, that guy who does the communication is an imbecile, your cook is probably drunk, your explosion expert is a dunce… and Anubis is your sort of pet"

"Those are terrible nicknames" Yui sighed as she tried to eat with the fork like utensil. "But for Anubis, yeah close enough" she laughed as her food escaped her yet once more.

Some time passed and they chatted casually, answering one another's question about their respective worlds. They were slowly starting to grow close, Yui more and more aware of this strange feeling she had. Whenever she would look at Thoth, her heart would beat a bit quicker, her cheeks would feel warm, and she felt like she wanted to melt in a puddle on the ground.

As for Thoth… he was perfectly aware of the effect he had on the girl, and he was absolutely happy with it. Just like Yui had never really been interested into boys, Thoth hadn't been interested in them either, nor into girls. Even if as the prince, he was expected to marry someday, no one had ever made his head turn the way Yui had. The moment he had seen her back in the cave, when she was wounded, he knew he wouldn't be able to just forget her. He knew she was special, and that he had to bring her here, both for selfish reasons and for not so selfish ones. He just had this feeling that Yui could help them all, and he knew exactly where to bring her for that.

Once they were done, they politely left the house, thanking their host for the meal. Thoth brought Yui to a small sort of pond, where fireflies flew all around, harmless. They were the very same ones that had set fire to their camp just the night before.

"The best we ever hoped to find was some crumbling buildings, maybe some pottery… instead we found a living, thriving society." Yui admitted as she looked at a firefly landing on her arm. "You know, these little guys are pretty nice, when they don't try to burn you." she commented.

"They do not like bright lights. And we're not thriving. Our culture is dying we're like a stone being hit by the ocean. With every passing year, a little more of us is worn away." Thoth said, putting the fireflies Yui had caught in a jar like lantern.

"How do you even know I accidentally lighted them?" the young woman mused as she turned back to catch some more.

"We had been observing you all from far away for a while. Technically we should have killed your crew, before you even reached the bridge, but I couldn't get myself to do it." Thoth admitted as he followed her.

"Why is that? Because you thought I could help you?"

"Partly…"

The linguist turned around when Thoth paused, wondering what he was going to say. Instead of words, she was met with Thoth pushing her toward the wall, trapping her between it and him. Her face was flushed as she stared up at the boy.

"I-i-i-is something wrong?" she stuttered as the prince leaned closer to her face.

"Depends on how you see things."

Thoth might have seemed calm and confident, but his heart was racing just as fast as Yui's. He didn't know exactly what had taken him. He just wanted to hug the girl and kiss her, to be fair. It was such a strange feeling. He felt attracted toward her, like something was pulling him in.

"Does it bother you?" he whispered.

"W-what?"

"Does it bother you for me to be so close?"

"No…" she whispered back.

"And what if I do this?"

Thoth leaned closer, his lips brushing against Yui's. She shook her head, saying that it did not bother her. In fact, Yui was hoping this was going to happen.

As he was being granted permission, Thoth started kissing her on the lips passionately. Yui's arm shot up and wrapped themselves around the prince's neck, pulling him in closer to her. Thoth was much taller than her, so he was pretty much touring over her, enveloping her with his arms as their kiss deepened.

Yui's mind was blank. She could not think about anything besides the feeling of Thoth's body pressed against her, his soft lips against her own… To think she came here to accomplish something, to find a lost civilization, and even found what she thought to be love…

"We barely know each other" she whispered when they parted for a brief moment. "And… and your father doesn't want us around…"

"I don't care. I… I'll talk to him, for you to stay. I don't want you to go. And then…"

He accidentally slipped to Atlantean as he whispered the last part of his sentence, but Yui understood what he said. _Then we can learn more about each other._

"Come on. I got something to show you." He said as he let go of her, walking back toward the pond.

Yui took a moment to get her thoughts straight, and calm her racing heart. She replaced her glasses on her nose, followed Thoth, and watched him get in the water as he started removing his clothes, stripping down to his underwear. Yui found herself staring, her mouth slightly opened. She still felt hot from the kiss, and now the man was casually removing his clothes as she looked at him like it was nothing.

"You do swim, do you not?" he said, a smirk on his face as he turned around to look at Yui.

"I swim pretty boy… pretty good! I swim pr-pretty good! Good. Swim good. Pretty good. I swim pretty good." she laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of her head.

"Good. There's a mural down there that I want to show you, and it's a fair distance from here."

"Hey you are talking to the belly flop champion." Yui proudly announced as she removed her trousers and coat, keeping only her tank top and underwear.

She walked into the water, joining Thoth. The water was much warmer than she expected.

"Come on, we're wasting time." The linguist started walking toward the deeper part of the pool and stopped. "How about you lead the way, since I have no idea where it is?"

Thoth laughed gently, took a deep breath and dove in the water, Yui following him immediately. They swam for a long time, Yui being nearly out of breath as she followed Thoth, their path lighted by the crystal around the prince's neck.

After a while, Thoth started swimming up, and the young woman followed him. Their head broke out of the water in a small bubble of air. Yui took in a deep breath and almost hit her head on the ceiling.

"Careful there." Thoth laughed as he put his hands on her head. "Are you alright?"

"I survived all the way here, so I guess I'm fine." she giggled.

"Well then, let's go."

They dove again and Yui followed him down a wall. At a certain point they stopped, and the crystal's dim light showed them a mural, on which were pictures and text about the Atlantis' story.

Yui started reading immediately, struggling to stay eye-leveled with the text. Thoth gave a small push on her back so she wouldn't float back up. After a few seconds, the linguist pointed upward and they went back to the air bubble.

"T-This is amazing! It's the whole story of the Atlantis!" she exclaimed, a large smile lighting her face. "It's exactly like Plato described it! Although he was a bit off on some of the details. Well, more than a bit off but anyway-"

"The light I saw, the star in the middle of the city- what was it? What does the writing say about that?" Thoth urged her.

"Uuuh, I don't know yet… but we're going to find out right now."

They dove down again, going a bit deeper than previously, taking in the whole thing. It showed the people of Atlantis, standing under a star-like thing, and protected by giant man creating some sort of protective circle.

They looked around a bit, looking for the passage of text saying what the light was. Finally finding it right above the star, Thoth lighted it with his crystal, also helping Yui to see it by holding her waist up so her eyes would be just in front of the text.

After checking things a little more, Yui understood something. The men all had something around their neck, which's light shot right toward the star. And it strangely looked like the crystal Thoth was wearing… she took it in her hand, trying to explain it underwater, but seeing the prince's confused face, she pointed upward again.

"The heart of Atlantis!" she promptly said as soon as Thoth's head broke out of the water.

"What?"

"It's the heart of Atlantis! That's what the shepherd was talking about! It was not a star, not at all, it was some kind of crystal… Like these!" She quickly explained as she took Thoth's crystal between her fingers and bringing it before their eyes to stare at it. "Don't you get it? The-the power source I've been looking for, and the bright light you remember. They're the same thing!"

"They cannot be." Thoth immediately protested.

"It's what's keeping these things, you and all of Atlantis alive!"

"Then where is that thing now?"

"I… don't know. You'd think something this important would be in the Journal but… wait, the missing page!"

"The missing page?"

"Yes, yes, there is a page missing at some point in the book, very strange. I don't know where it is, for it was gone when I received the book."

"Come on, let's go back to the shore and talk about this."

Thoth grabbed Yui's hand. They both took a deep breath and made their way back to where they came from. Thoth seemed strange after that, like something was on his mind.

* * *

The prince helped Yui out of the water, once they reached the shore. They climbed the little flock of stairs leading into the pool, and let themselves fall in the grass, side by side, catching their breath. They stared at the starless sky above them, waiting for the moment they'd be able to speak again.

"What's this missing page you're talking about?" Thoth breathed as he turned to his side to look at Yui.

"In the book..." Yui started, and took a deep breath. "In the book, there is a place where they talk about some sort of energy source, but where they should be talking about the location of the source, and what it does, it's blank. I mean, where the information should be, there is nothing and it skips to something else. It really is strange, and I do believe the page was ripped by someone."

Thoth cursed in Atlantean. A breeze blew around them, and Yui shivered. The temperature might be pretty warm here, she was still wet and underdressed. Even the tiniest wind blow made her feel cold.

Thoth sat up and reached for something a bit further. Having realized Yui was cold, he wanted to warm her up for they had a lot to discuss right now. He grabbed the fabric which he normally used as his kilt-like clothes. Since the piece of fabric was fairly big, he was able to drape it over Yui as he laid down next to her again.

"Thank you." she smiled as her eyes met his.

"Now, how about we talk some more?"

"Talk about what?"

"Us. You. Or me. You were the one to say we barely knew each other. Just… tell me your life. Starting from your childhood." The prince suggested as his free hand, the one not supporting his head, started playing with Yui's stray hair.

"Okay then, hmm… As I told you, I lost my parents when I was a kid. We had just moved in from Japan, and I'm not sure what happened to them, if they were killed or they were sick. I was very young back then, and Thor never told me."

"Thor… who is he already?"

"He was my legal guardian. He took me in after that, and he raised me. He was like my big brother, making sure I had everything I needed. I loved him to pieces. When… when he passed away, I didn't want to go on anymore. Without him, this dream of finding the Atlantis seemed meaningless. Thor had told me all about it, and had encouraged me in my studies when I decided to pursue dead languages. I... I'm what they call a gifted child, I guess. I do not like referring myself as such, because the reason why I was able to learn all this so quickly, and graduate early was because I was desperately passionate about it. Day in and day out, I would study and study non-stop. Never had a relationship, never had many friends… but Thor was there, and together we were researching on this amazing legend that is yours. He would have been incredibly moved to see this place, He would have been moved to see that all his efforts had worked. He's the one who found the Shepherd's Journal, with the crew I'm travelling with. But because he died, they asked me to take his place. They needed someone who could read Atlantean, and I am now the only one to be able to read it I guess. Your turn. How was _your_ childhood?"

"Well, I don't remember much of what happened before, and a few years after the Mehbelmok. After that, I grew up like any other kid from Atlantis. I would go out and play with other children, come back home for dinner. My father was distant. He had just lost his wife, and I was all he had left. We didn't talk much, but he was very protective of me. As I grew up, came the time for me to learn how to fish and hunt for our survival. I started going with the patrols in the caves too. We fought with all the strangers. And then, around the time I became an adult and got my first tattoos, I started realizing something was wrong. That our culture was dying. Ever since then I've been trying to find a way to get us back to our former glory. And then, centuries later, we find you in the caves, and you end up being our best chance of survival."

All the time he was speaking, Yui never stopped looking at him. She was listening, yes, but also taking in every details. His face, the shape of his eyes, the curve of his lips, his nose, his eyebrows furrowing as he remembered his childhood, the tattoos on his face, his short hair, save for that long lock going down on the left side of his face… everything. He was absolutely gorgeous, and Yui was starting to dread her departure. She didn't want to leave, both because of her new relationship with Thoth, but also because she had worked so hard to get here, and leaving would absolutely end her. What would her next goal in life even be? After making the best discovery of the century, what was left for her? All she wanted was spend the rest of her life here, with Thoth, and studying these people. And yet… she had less than 12 hours to do so.

Seeing the sadness taking over in the girl's eyes, Thoth stopped talking. He gently put his hand on the side of her face, his thumb caressing her cheek.

"What makes you so sad?" he whispered.

"I don't want to go… even if you speak to your father, he will not let me stay I'm sure… and I'm afraid of what that would mean for the others! I'm just… I'm scared, Thoth…"

He leaned down and kissed her forehead, before gently pressing his to hers.

"It's going to be alright, Yui. If- if I have too, I'll hide you somewhere. I'm not letting you go."

"Where would you even hide me?"

"I don't know. In the caves, probably."

"What? That's such an uncomfortable place to live in!" the linguist laughed.

"I'd give you a bed, and things to keep you warm. I'd visit every day."

"Wouldn't your father find that suspicious?"

"As harsh as it's going to sound, the king doesn't have much time left. It would be a temporary situation for you. And also he doesn't care about me."

"I'm sure that's not true, Thoth."

"I guess he does, but my whereabouts don't interest him. I think I'm old enough to do whatever I want anyway" he smiled. "Come on. You should put some clothes back on and get some rest. You need it."

Yui didn't protest, as she was dead tired and cold anyway. The whole trip and the swim had been very tiring, and the fact she hadn't sleep in a long time did not help. She silently got up, put her trousers back on, grabbed her cloak and laid back down next to Thoth, enveloped in said cloak. Thoth had put his kilt back on and hugged Yui close to him. Yui rapidly fell asleep, no dream bothering her as she stayed close to Thoth, his body warmth warming her.

It took the prince more time to fall asleep, as he was trying to figure out how he would convince his father. His best argument so far was the fact Yui could actually read, speak and perfectly understand Atlantean, which was great. If his father was so kin to keep their old ways, they would have to rediscover them, and Yui, being the only one able to read the language, was their best hope at doing so. Hades would have no other choice but to see it as fact, and at least allow the girl to stay. For the rest of the crew, Thoth didn't care, really. While their knowledge could be useful, to a certain extent, they were not a necessity.

He fell asleep, his mind filled with different ideas and arguments, as he thought about how the conversation should go.

* * *

Morning came, and the first thing Yui knew was she was being pulled by the arm, forced to stand up. Thinking she was being attacked, she quickly turned around and kicked her assailant. Fully awake, she found herself face to face with Zeus, who was smirking.

"Commander? What- What are you doing? What's going on? What's with all the guns?" she asked as she saw the whole crew standing behind him, everyone having a gun in their hand.

She then heard cursing in Atlantean coming from behind her. She spun around as quickly as she had at first, only to see Thoth being held down by soldiers. He was violently fighting them off, but they outnumbered him by a lot. He looked at them, growling and cursing.

"I'm such an idiot." Yui muttered to herself. "This is just another treasure hunt for you all, huh."

She heard Melissa hissing somewhere further away. The cat had stayed at the house where they had dinner last night, but apparently he had been caught by the others before he could warn Yui.

"You're after the crystal?" she asked, despite knowing the truth.

"You mean this?" Zeus took a paper out from his pocket, showing it to Yui.

"The heart of Atlantis…"

"Yeah, about that, I would've told you sooner Kusanagi, but it was strictly on a need-to-know basis. And well, you know. I had to be sure you were one of us. Welcome to the club, kid" Zeus smiled as he offered his hand to Yui.

Her eyes were wild with anger. Without a second thought, she slapped his hand away from her.

"I'm no mercenary. Now leave Thoth alone"

"Actually, I prefer the term 'adventurous capitalist'. Beside, you're the one who got us here. You led us right to the treasure chest."

"You don't know what you're tampering with, Keraunos." Yui growled lowly as she walked up to the man, straightening herself to appear taller and more imposing.

"What is there to know anyway? It's big. It's shiny. And it's going to make us all rich."

"You think it's some kind of diamond, I thought it was some- some sort of battery, but we were both wrong. It's their life force. That crystal is the only thing keeping these people alive! Take it away and they'll die!" the young woman protested.

"Oh well, that changes things. Akira?"

"Knowing that, I'd double the price." the boy smirked as he snatched the paper away from Zeus.

"Ah, I was thinking triple."

"Keraunos, don't do this." Yui pleaded as she walked toward the commander, but was stopped by Loki.

Seeing her friend, or so she thought, blocking her the way, Yui started boiling even more. She glared at him in despair and anger. How could he?

"Academics. You never want to get your hands dirty." Zeus said, walking off, putting the paper back in his pants. "Think about it, if you gave back every stolen artifact from a museum, you'd be left with an empty building. We're just providing a necessary service to the archeological community! That should interest you, no?"

"Not interested." Yui stood her grounds, her glare darker than ever.

Zeus sighed. "I got to admit I'm disappointed. You're an idealist, just like Thor was. Do yourself a favor, Yui. Don't be like him. For once, you should do the smart thing."

The linguist kept glaring. She was already mad, but now… dirtying Thor's name! They got this far because of him, how dare this- this man said his name!

"Uh. I really hate it when negotiation go sour." Zeus sighed as he snapped his finger.

The soldiers holding Thoth threw him to the ground and pointed a gun at his head. The prince looked back at them, considering if he should try to get away, or if that would just get him killed. Seeing as there were too many people, he resigned himself to not move.

"Thoth!" Yui exclaimed, but was forbid to go anywhere near him.

"Now let's try again." The commander said as he walked toward her, putting the missing page in front of Yui's face. "How about you show us where this is?"


	6. Chapter 6 - The Girl and the King

**Sorry for the delayed chapter! I've been incredibly busy and couldn't finish it in the meantime. But now, here I am, updating. Thank you for your patience, hope you will enjoy the chapter! There's only one left after that, and it's already in editing and should be sent to beta soon.**

 **Thank you to dragon-overlord-yuu for the beta! y'all should check her out too she has good stuff :v**

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

 **The girl and the king**

The door leading to the throne room exploded, revealing the crew of specialists plus Thoth standing behind it. The king immediately rose to his feet, his staff placed in front of him in a defensive manner.

Yui bowed her head. How could these people…? How could _she_ have been so _naïve_! She thought they were her friends. And now, they backstabbed her and everyone who trusted them in the city.

Akira was holding Thoth's arms behind his back. The prince was trying to move away from the grip, but Akira was stronger than he looked. The guards were pointing their spear toward the strangers, ready to defend their king.

"Tell them to drop their weapons… now!" he ordered to Hades, spinning his own gun with his free hand, just before he placed the canon of it against Thoth's back.

Hades scowled, but did as he was ordered. The guards dropped their weapons against their will, their eyes glaring at the strangers.

"Spread out, search everywhere!" the lieutenant ordered to the crew as he kept holding Thoth, while Zeus was trying to force Yui to read the paper.

"Now make an effort, Kusanagi. There must be something else"

"But there isn't! All it says is 'The heart of Atlantis lies in the eyes of her king'. That's it, that's what is written on the page."

"Well then, maybe the old king will be more cooperative than you." He tossed Yui aside, making her fall to the ground as he walked up to Hades. "How about it, chief? Where's the crystal chamber?"

"You will destroy yourselves looking for it," he scowled back, staring straight into the eyes of Zeus.

"Maybe I'm not making myself clear enough."

Zeus then punched the king right in the stomach, sending him lying on the ground. Hades coughed up blood as he curled up, in pain. Further away, Thoth gasped and started insulting the strangers in his native tongue, his words like venom.

"Zeus, this was not part of the plan!" Apollon protested as he fell to his knees and placed himself over the king.

"The plan has changed, doc" Zeus smiled, not regretted a second his actions.

He walked toward the throne, inspected wherever the entrance to the chamber could be. Meanwhile, Yui felt powerless. She had brought this to the people of Atlantis. If… if only Thor had been here… no. It would have been the same. Thor _trusted_ these people, just as much as she had trusted them, and now they were betraying that. They were betraying his trust in them. And that was absolutely unforgivable.

Zeus sat on the throne and put his feet on the small table in front of it, making a bowl of fruit fall to the ground. With his gun raised, a smile on his face, he looked at the people in front of him.

"Well as usual, diplomacy has failed us. This time I'm going to count to ten, and you're going to tell me where the crystal is."

Two of Zeus' men rose the king to his feet, placing him right in front of the throne, where Zeus could easily shoot him. Akira had to call on other people to help him keep the prince down, as he was desperately trying to get free.

"One, two," Zeus loaded his gun and pointed it toward the king. "Nine… T-"

As he was about to say ten, something caught his eyes. Over the king's head, he saw it. The entrance to the chamber. How had he not seen it before? The pattern, the same one on the book and on the paper he had ripped from it, was on the ground, formed with rocks that created a path on the water.

"The heart of Atlantis lies in the eyes of her king, was it…" he whispered to himself.

Hades bowed his head, closing his eyes. He had lost the battle, and now Atlantis would no longer be. He had failed as a king. He had failed his people, his family… he wasn't even able to preserve his son from all of it. Oh, how he wished he hadn't been so foolish, all those years ago…

"This is it! We're in!" Zeus announced as he stood up, tossing the book to Yui, who caught it last minute.

"Keraunos, for the last time you have to listen to me!" Yui pleaded as she followed him in the water. "You don't have the slightest idea what this power is capable of!" she half yelled.

"True." Akira added as he tossed Thoth in the water, only to grab his arm again as he joined them. "But I can think of a few countries who'd pay anything to find out."

Zeus climbed on a flat rock that was submerged by the water, but still visible from here. There was a rumbling sound as the rock started moving, activated by the person standing on it. As it started going down, he grabbed Yui by the shirt and forced her to follow him.

"Hurry up and get on," he said through his teeth.

Akira jumped after them, still holding Thoth by the arm and forcing him to follow. The prince was able to free himself from his grip from there, but it was too late. Rebelling now would only end in more people getting hurt, and more specifically Yui getting hurt. He didn't know what these people were truly capable of, but after seeing his father punched hard like that, he didn't want that to happen to his new love.

He went and stood behind Yui, a hand resting on her shoulder. This wasn't her fault, he knew it. She was just a victim in all of this. All she wanted was to find his civilization and learn about them. Her goals were pure, and these people had used her for their own sake. Just for that, he would never, ever forgive them.

The rock brought them down, like an elevator. In mere seconds, the group of four found themselves in an underground cave, with a lake surrounding them. At the very top of the cave was a bunch of sculpted faces floating around a glowing sphere… like the star that had taken Thoth's mother, the day of the Mehbelmok.

"Jackpot," Zeus said as he walked toward the edge of the platform.

They all stared, but Thoth was taken by sudden realization. Those sculpted faces, they represented the kings of their past, the kings of Atlantis. The ones that would weep if they saw what their glorious civilization had come to. With a tear rolling down his cheek, he let himself fall to the ground in prostration, muttering what sounded like a prayer in his native tongue.

"Kusanagi, tell him to wrap it up. We got a schedule to meet," Zeus asked Yui, obviously annoyed.

Yui glared at him, but there wasn't much she could do beside follow his order. She gave Akira a look, giving him one last chance of stopping this madness, but the man simply looked at Thoth with a smile, like he was considering kicking him so he would stop. With kindness, she crouched next to Thoth and gently put her hand on his back, making him jump.

"Um… Thoth, I'm so sorry," She whispered as she helped him up.

The boy barely looked at her as his gaze fixed itself on the glowing orb again. They watched as Zeus got closer to the water, staring. He kicked a rock in the lake, and suddenly the blue light turned to red, like an alarm signal. Yui immediately started looking through the book for an explanation as Thoth mindlessly took his crystal in his hand, holding it carefully.

"Come on let's get this over with," Akira pressed them. "I don't like this place."

"All right Kusanagi. What's next?"

Yui couldn't help the angry smile on her face. "Okay, there's a giant crystal hovering 150 feet above our heads, over a bottomless pit of water. Doesn't anything surprise you?"

While Yui was talking, Thoth, who was still staring at the crystal, found the one around his neck rising upward, right toward the heart.

"Mathim," he whispered, a small smile forming on his lips.

"The only thing that surprises me is that this thing is not in a truck yet. Now move it," the man ordered.

"I don't know how to move it! I don't even know what's holding it up there" the young woman replied, waving the book in her hands.

As they argued, Thoth started walking toward the water, his eyes blank. He passed by them, making the conversation stop immediately. A ray of light was enveloping Thoth, making him advance toward the water. As Yui tried to follow him, she was stopped by Zeus hand, who was staring at the prince go.

"Talk to me, Kusanagi. What's happening?" the commander asked, still stopping Yui from running after her boyfriend.

"Look, all it says here is the crystal is alive somehow. It... I don't know to explain it. It's their deity. It's their power source."

"Please speak English, professor." Zeus sighed.

"They're part of it, it's a part of them. I- I'm doing the best I can here, so if you would please stop whatever you're doing, otherwise I'm leaving the translation to you."

"Well do better!"

"Okay then, just translate and I'll wave your bloody gun around!" she spit the words at his face, anger turning her face a deep shade of red.

Their argument was stopped as Thoth slowly turned around, speaking Atlantean.

" _All will be well, Yui Kusanagi. Be not afraid"_ he said, addressing Yui directly.

"What… did he say, actually?"

"I don't know, I didn't catch" Yui lied as she looked to the ground, looking a bit embarrassed.

She was unsure if Thoth had spoken to her, or if it was the heart of Atlantis speaking _through_ him. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense for it to be the heart speaking. And even if those words were meant to be reassuring, Yui was dead worried for the prince. What was going to happen? The story of how he lost his mother came back to her mind, and Yui wouldn't bear it if she was to lose him right now. She felt guilty. If it hadn't been for her, for that dream she desperately pursued, this boy wouldn't be here now. And yet… neither would she.

Thoth walked toward the power source, still guided by the rays of light. He was walking right on the water, as the three people on the shore stared in awe. He only stopped once he was right under the crystal, staring upward. All the rays of light, which reminded Yui of search lights, that had been moving around concentrated on him, as the sculpted faces of the past kings opened up the way. The light concentrated on the crystal, and Thoth's eyes closed as he was brought upward, toward the power source. He was limp like a doll, his hair floating around his head like he was submerged in water.

Once Thoth was right in the middle of the crystal, the rocks closed around it and started spinning at an incredible speed as light concentrated in the body of the prince. He slowly spun inside of the light, his arms opened, as if he was welcoming someone. The light became brighter, and it was soon impossible for the three Americans' to see anything. When the brightness subsided, and everything stopped spinning, they could see a bright, almost transparent shape floating in the middle of the rocks, where the crystal used to be. It looked like a human boy made of glass.

Thoth's body slowly descending toward the waters again in a very bible-like scene. Yui stared at him in horror. What- what was going to happen to him…? She tried to leave her place to meet him halfway, but Zeus put his hand on her shoulder, forbidding her from continuing.

"Hold your horses, lover girl."

"Thoth…" she called, trying hard not to let her voice shake.

The prince opened his eyes and looked at them.

"Thoth… no…" Yui shook her head as the boy started moving toward them.

Around him, the rocks started falling, sending water splashing all around. While the water should have hit Thoth directly, it was deflected by an invisible bubble surrounding him, as the prince kept walking, not bothered by what was happening. When he reached the shore, Zeus extended a hand to touch him, but Yui stopped him.

"Don't. Don't touch him." She warned, her tone worried as she turned her head to look at the man.

They went back up, careful not to lay a finger on the boy. When they got out of the chamber, everyone was staring at Thoth, who was now soulless, as he was possessed by the heart of Atlantis.

"Prepare the truck, we're leaving," Zeus commanded as he walked out of the water.

Yui followed them, as she didn't want to leave Thoth. She couldn't… and yet. What _could she do?_ She was powerless. She watched these people, these people she thought were her friends, cage the man she loved.

Takeru was on the top of the cage, screwing in the last screw. Yui glared at him from down on the ground, and the engineer was careful not to meet her eyes. He felt guilty, but money was money. He had a dream too, and he wanted to make it real, like she had done with hers. He turned around and got in the back of the pick-up to help the others put the cage in it. Yui simply stared at them, making them uneasy. Her eyes were burning with hatred and sadness from their betrayals, and they felt the guilt slowly crippling up in them.

Inside the cage, the only window showing Thoth's face showed him closing his eyes, and the glass froze. Yui had seen that, and she knew she didn't have much time to save him… but what could she do? She was powerless, harmless against all of them. They had guns, and she had… she had fists. That's it. She still walked over to the cage, standing on her tiptoes, holding back tears. But the soldiers forced her to step back by pushing her away.

"Please… you don't know what you are doing. You're dooming everyone here… please reconsider! Free him. Free Thoth."

They ignored her. Yui wasn't surprised. Standing up straight, she looked to the side, the sight of the cage too much for her.

"So, I guess this is how it ends uh," she started walking away. "Fine, you win."

Yui shrugged as she made her way around, back to the people of Atlantis anxiously looking at these strangers taking their prince away.

"You're wiping out an entire civilization… but hey, you'll be rich right?" she kept talking, bitterness rolling off her tongue easily. "Congratulation, Takeru. Guess you and your dad will be able to open up that second garage after all."

Takeru pretended to ignore her. Truth is, this all broke his heart too. As much as he did want the money, to accomplish his dream… Yui _was_ his friend, despite what she was thinking at the moment. And taking the prince away from his people, just to have the crystal… it felt so wrong. But what could he do?

In the distance, he heard Melissa meow. The cat was following Yui's every step, definitely judging them all too. After all, cat excelled at judging people, and now he had a good reason to do so.

"And Loki! You can start a whole chain of flower shops now, can't you? I'm sure your family's going to be proud of you." She chuckled bitterly. "But that's what it's all about right? Money."

"Get off your soapbox, Kusanagi," Zeus grumbled. "You barely knew that guy anyway. What difference does it make?"

"I-I'm not mad because you're taking him away from _me_! I'm mad because you are dooming these – these people! They will _die_ because you took him away! Him and the heart of Atlantis! You will have thousands of death on your conscience, Keraunos. Thousands." She yelled at him.

"You've read Darwin, Yui. It's called natural selection! The strongest wins. We're just helping it along." Zeus walked over to her and patted her shoulder, but Yui quickly moved away from his touch.

"Commander, we're ready!" Akira called from the trucks.

"Just give me a minute. I know I'm forgetting something… I got the cargo, the crystal, the crew… oh right."

Zeus turned around and punched Yui right in the face, sending her flying to the ground. There were gasps from the Atlanteans surrounding them. The picture of Yui and Thor fell out from her satchel as the linguist picked up her glasses, which had fallen during the hit. Melissa ran toward her, checking if she was okay. Once he believe she'd be alright, he turned to Zeus and growled at him. He knew that guy wasn't okay.

"Look at it this way, kiddo," Zeus said, not scared in the slightest by Yui's glare. "You were the girl who discovered the Atlantis! And now, you're part of the exhibit."

Before Yui could reach for the picture, Zeus stepped on it, breaking the glass. Wiping the blood away from the corner of her mouth, Yui wanted to shoot the man. She wanted him dead, and she wanted her to kill him.

Giving up on that impossible idea, she moved the broken glass away from the picture and took it gently out of it. She looked at it, tears of sadness and rage rolling down her cheeks as she looked at Thor's smiling face.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered as she hugged the photograph, curling in on herself.

Hearing that, Takeru felt even worse. That girl did not deserve this, not at all. She was brave and strong, and she had made it this far in life because she believed in herself and in her abilities. And Takeru wanted to be by her side, as her friend, and help her save the Atlanteans. This mission was bullshit anyway. The money? Not important. He kicked the truck's door open and walked over to the girl, helping her up as Yui stared at him in surprise. They shared a look, and both started glaring at the remaining of the crew.

Loki was the first to react. He sighed heavily, put on his usual mischievous smile, and started walking toward them, Balder right behind him. They stood by Yui's left side, and Loki helped Takeru lifting her up, as she was still a bit weak from the punch. Not long after, Dionysus, Anubis and Tsukito followed them, joining the group.

Yui wasn't sure how she felt. She was glad that these people, her friends, had realized something before it was too late. Did they stand a better chance? Probably not. But the bigger the number, the better the chances, even if they were slim.

"Oh, you can't be serious," Zeus sighed as he looked in his rear mirror at the group.

"This is wrong and you know it!" Takeru growled back.

"We're this closed to our biggest payday ever and you pick this exact moment to grow a conscience?"

"We've done a lot of things we're not proud of," Loki started. "Robbing graves, plundering tombs, double parking… but nobody got hurt! At least, nobody we knew! This time it's different, Keraunos."

"For Loki to realize this, it really is wrong. We're no longer with you, Keraunos" Balder added.

"Well, if that's the way you want it, fine. More for me!"

Zeus climbed back in his truck and the rest of the crew left under the glares of both Yui and her friends, but also the glares of the Atlanteans.

As they left, Yui lost her glare and started looking around. The water had stopped falling, and the crystals' light were fading. She had to do something…. She couldn't just stay behind! She started running after the trucks, not thinking one bit that she would never be able to catch up with them.

"We can't let them do this!" she exclaimed as she almost reached the bridge before being stopped by Loki.

"Oi, kitten, wait a minute."

Confused, she looked at the bridge like Loki was doing. His tone was grave and his face serious, which was not an expression the boy wore often.

As the trucks got to the other side, Zeus' stopped his vehicle and took out a little box with a handle. He pressed the handle inside the box, and the bridge exploded immediately, sending a wave of screams on the other side.

Yui threw herself to the ground, just like Loki did as wood bits flew everywhere. Loki looked up and his grey eyes fell on Yui.

"Okay, now you can go," he said as a matter of fact.

In any other circumstances, Yui would probably have laughed, but now she just wanted to punch him. How was she going to save Thoth now…?

"Fairy! Fairy, you better get up here," Apollon called from behind them.

The king! How could she have forgotten! Yui jumped on her feet and ran toward the palace, standing in the hole they had made earlier.

Apollon was busy listening to the King's heart. He sighed and removed his stethoscope from his ears, sadly looking at the poor man. He did not deserve this…

"How is he?" Yui asked as she walked up to them.

"Not good, I'm afraid. Really not good. Internal bleeding. Without the proper instrument, there's nothing more I can do…"

Yui looked at the king, her hand on the back of her neck. "What a nightmare," she whispered, feeling guilty for what had happened to the old king. "And I brought it here…"

"Don't go beating yourself up, fairy! Zeus has been after that crystal since Iceland. He really has been. Never letting go. Once Thor had his back away, he took the page from the book. No one realized until it was too late."

There was a pause while Yui was thinking. Suddenly, a smile lit up her face.

"The crystals! That's it! They have some sort of healing energy in them! I've seen it work, back when we crashed in that cave!"

"No," the king croaked as his head closed on Yui's, who was holding his crystal. "Where is my son?"

Yui looked away. Oh how was she going to tell him?

"Well, he… he… hmm." She tried, but couldn't get the words out of her throat.

She looked down, not wanting the others seeing the tears that were still menacing from falling from her eyes.

"He was chosen… just like his mother before," Hades whispered.

"What…?"

"In times of danger, the crystal will chooses a host, one of royal blood, to protect itself and its people. It will accept no other."

"W-wait a minute. Choose? So this thing… it _is_ alive?"

"In a way," Hades nodded. "The crystal thrives on the collective emotions of all who came before us. In return, it provides power, longevity… protection. As it grew, it developed a consciousness of its own." The king briefly stopped to cough. "In… in my arrogance, I sought to use it as a weapon of war. But… its power proved too great to control. It overwhelmed us, and led to our destruction."

"That would be why you hid it beneath the city," Yui realized after the story. "To keep history from repeating itself!"

"And to prevent Thoth from suffering the same fate as my beloved wife…"

"Wait what do you mean? What's going to happen to Thoth?" she urged the king to answer, despite seeing he was in pain.

"If… if he remains bonded with the crystal, he could be lost forever. The love of my son is all I have left. I just wanted to protect him… and I have failed. My burden should have fallen on him, when the time was right… but now, if falls on you." The king removed the crystal from around his neck and handed it to Yui, who looked at him in surprise and respect.

" _Me?_ " she couldn't help but say as she took the crystal in both her hands.

"Return the crystal. Save Atlantis. Save my son." Hades coughed. "I see what he saw in you. Only you can do it, Yui Kusanagi."

And with that, the king's last breath left him as he joined with the spirits of his ancestors.

Yui lowered her head in respect. The king had died for his people, and now it was up to her to save them all. And she did not have much time left.

"So. What's it going to be, fairy?" Apollon said as he put away his medical tools.

"I'm… sorry?"

"I followed you in, and I'm going to follow you out. It's your decision, fairy. Yours only"

"Oh my decision!" Yui chuckled nervously. "Well I think we've seen how effective _my_ decisions have been. How about we recap, hm? I lead a band of plundering vandals to the greatest archeological find in the record of history, thus enabling the kidnap and murder of the royal family. And not to mention personally delivering the most powerful force known to man into the hands of a mercenary nutcase who's probably going to sell it to the Kaiser!" She yelled as she threw the Shepherd's Journal to the ground, letting her emotions carry her away. "Have I left anything out?!"

"Well, you did set the camp on fire and send us down that big hole!" Apollon added with a smirk.

"Thank you!" The girl grumbled as she walked away. "Thank you very much."

"But you also fell in love with a man you do not want to lose," the doctor added as he picked up the book from the ground and walked toward Yui, who had sat down on a rock, her head in her hands. "And also, from personal experience. When you hit rock bottom, the only place to go is up."

"And who told you that," Yui sighed, not caring.

"A Professor by the name of Thor Megingyoruzu." He smiled as he handed her the journal.

Yui looked at it, and looked at the crystal in her hand. She had to do something. She was the only one who could.

And she will.


	7. Chapter 7 - The Girl and the Fight

**And the final chapter. Thank you everyone for sticking with me until the end of this! This fanfic was originally for a friend on tumblr, who wanted for Thoth/Yui fanfic and here we are, at the end of it. I hope you liked this, and that you'll enjoy the final chapter!**

 **Thanks again and always to dragon-overlord-yuu for the beta!**

* * *

 **Chapter 7**  
 **The Girl and the Fight**

Yui walked out from the throne room, confident. The death of the King and Apollon's word had given it back to her. She had to save these people. She had put them in this situation in the first place, and now she was going to make everything right. That's the least she could do, after all.

With Melissa on her shoulders, she passed right in front of her friends, not even giving them a look. She was looking straight ahead of herself, a look of determination on her face.

"Where are you going?" Takeru asked as the little group started following her.

"After Keraunos," she simply replied, half turning around to look at them.

"Yui, that's crazy!" Balder protested. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

"I never said it was the smart thing to do. But it is the _right_ thing." She shrugged as she walked backward.

Loki and Takeru sighed deeply as they saw this small piece of a woman walking off toward her death. "Come on, we better follow her before she hurts herself by falling off a cliff," Takeru grumbled.

They followed the linguist to a fish sculpture and watched her climb it up. What was she doing anyway? Did she really believe she would get anywhere on a fish made of rock?

"Mad," Loki whispered, "completely nuts."

"Loki, quit it already," Balder warned him, hitting him in the ribs with his elbow.

"Hey Weed, what do you think you're doing anyway?" Takeru finally asked her as the people started gathering around her.

"Stop asking questions, just follow my lead," she said as she put the king's crystal in the slot, her hand resting on the pad.

She turned the crystal a quarter, then back, like she had learned to do the day before with Thoth. The engine starting running, and the fish slowly started floating in the air, making the small group gasp in surprise.

"Wow, I'm impressed." Tsukito said with his straight face.

Thing is, he did not look impressed. But Tsukito wasn't one to display his emotions, so no one really knew what he thought about the situation.

"It's really simple! All you gotta do-" she started explaining but was cut by Takeru who had climbed behind her and was now reaching for the pad.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shut up. We get it, okay?" he said at the same time his fingers touched the glowing pad.

"No no wait, Takeru that's not a good id-" Yui started saying, but it was too late.

The vehicle started screeching as it went backward, crashing right into a wall. Takeru groaned as he started rising.

"Gently. You have to touch it _gently,_ " Yui told him while he glared at her.

"Hey kitten! Got anything sportier?" Loki asked from the ground. "You know, like a tuna or something."

"How is this done?" one of the Atlantean guard asked Yui as she came down the fish.

"All you have to do is use the crystals. Come on, I'll show you!"

The girl ran toward a hammerhead shark-like vehicle this time, and jumped into the driver's place. She repeated the actions she had done before, showing her now growing crowd of Atlanteans.

"Half-turn right, quarter-run back. Also, always keep your hand on the pad."

The guards smiled as they look at their necklaces and ran for the vehicles. They jumped in and on them and immediately tested what Yui had showed them. Quickly, the sky was filling with all sorts of differently shaped vehicles, all based on fishes.

Yui took the lead aboard one of the hammerhead shark vehicles, Melissa still standing on her shoulders. She rose a fist in the air, encouraging her troops.

"This is it! We're going to save the prince! We're going to save Atlantis! Or at least die trying to do so!" She yelled, and the others all cheered back as they advanced toward the caves.

As they passed over the city, they could see the remaining Atlanteans waving at them and cheering, encouraging them on their perilous mission. They were probably going toward their death, for they didn't really have any actual weapons.

They passed over the lava encircling the continent, going straight toward the cave they had arrived in the day before. As they flew through the tunnels, Yui turned around to tell them what she had come up with. She had been thinking about it for quite a while now, ever since she had left the throne room. It was crazy, as she had said to the others, but it was the only thing they could possibly do in so little time.

"Okay, here's the plan..." she yelled. "We're going to come in low and fast and take them by surprise."

"Well I've got news for you, Yui!" Takeru called back.

He was riding next to Apollon, just a little behind Yui.

"Keraunos is never surprised, and he's got a lot of guns."

"Take-Take is right! It's really dangerous. Really!" Apollon added.

"Great! Well do you have any suggestions, mister?" Yui sarcastically called back.

Loki was the one to answer.

"Yeah, don't get shot, kitten~"

They reached the cave where they had crashed two nights ago, when the fireflies had lit their camp on fire. But instead of finding nothing, a giant red balloon was anchored to the ground as they prepared to leave. Yui saw Zeus attach the metal cage in which Thoth was imprisoned. They had to hurry…

"There they are!" she yelled, pointing at their enemies.

The Atlanteans started shooting arrows toward the people on the ground as they flew over them, avoiding the gun shots. As they fought, Zeus took his opportunity, climbed on the balloon as it started leaving the ground, slowly rising toward the top of the cave. Airplanes accompanied him, but the fish vehicles were following them close by.

Seeing this, Yui couldn't help but be surprised.

"Holy smokes! You said he only had guns, Takeru!" she yelled at the boy flying under her.

"What I said was, he's never surprised, Weed!" the engineer yelled back, slightly annoyed.

"We're never going to make it out alive," Yui grumbled as she avoided being shot.

A bit further, Loki was riding his fish, avoiding as best as he could the shots that were sent his way. In an attempt to not get hit, he leaned forward, his hand touching the pad. To his surprise, the fish started to glow, and through its open mouth, a laser beam shot straight toward a parked car.

"Oh~? Quite interesting," he said as he looked to the Atlantean that was flying next to him, a smile on his face.

The man smiled back as he leaned forward, his hand pressing the same place Loki had touched. More lasers shot through the cave, much to Loki's delight.

"Okay, now things are getting good!" He turned to Balder, who was shaking his head in disapproval.

This would be useful, but in Loki's hand… very dangerous. But before he could do any significant damage, Yui arrived next to him.

"Loki, heads up! We can't let them reach the top of that shaft!"

"Got it, kitten."

While Loki was charging, Yui had to back up. Airplanes were coming her way. Turning her hammerhead shark vehicle, she flew away to a safe place. When she was finally able to lose her pursuer, she rejoined Loki.

"Loki! New plan!"

"What? I barely had time to do any damage!"

"Never mind that! You and me, we're going to be decoys! Takeru and Apollon, fly up under that thing and free the prince!"

"We're on it, fairy! We're going to do it!" Apollon replied, giving Yui a thumbs up.

As they flew toward the bottom of the balloon, Loki and Yui went up. Yui saw that Zeus was aware of their presence, which was good. The plan was working so far.

"Lieutenant!" Zeus pointed at them, and Akira aimed for them.

He started shooting at them, but the gun he was using wasn't the best for long distance shot. Switching weapons, he kept aiming at them. As Yui passed close by, Akira was going to shoot her, but Loki was quicker. With the newly found weapon on the fish vehicles, he sent a beam of light toward him, saving Yui from getting killed. The lieutenant then aimed for the boy, who grinned at him.

"Good luck catching me, pretty face~"

"Oh, don't worry, I'll get you," Akira hissed through his teeth as he shot Loki, but the man was out of range.

In the meantime, Takeru and Apollon were under the balloon, sawing the chains with the saw the doctor had brought in case someone needed to have one of their limbs cut off.

"I thought you said this thing could cut through a femur in 28 seconds!" Takeru angrily muttered as he tried to break the chains.

"Less talk, more saw, Take-Take! More saw!" Apollon replied as he held to the cage.

Takeru groaned but kept sawing. Over them, they could hear the explosions and shot being fired in every direction. People were falling to the ground, and there was no way to know if they were friends or foes, which made it incredibly terrifying.

Yui was flying close to the balloon, keeping Zeus' attention on her. The man was firing with a huge gun, and it was really incredible she hadn't been touched yet. But Zeus was now concentrating all his shots on her, which would mean she could get hit soon.

Luckily for her, Loki passed by and shot some of his lasers at the commander, hitting his wrist and making him drop the gun. He waved at the man, his usual mischievous smile on his face.

They watched him fly away, but a small flash of light from below caught Zeus' attention. He looked down from the balloon and saw Takeru sawing the chains, desperately trying to free the prince.

"Looks like somebody's working overtime," he smiled at Akira as he pointed down.

Akira nodded and walked toward the bombs attached to the balloon, liberating one and letting it fall right toward Apollon and Takeru. They had a fraction of seconds to react before it was too late.

Fortunately, the bomb hit another flying fish, the wave hitting and shaking the cage as Takeru hanged on for dear life, still sawing.

"Come on, Take-Take! Time's up! Time to go!" Apollon said as he grabbed Takeru's shirt and pulled him on his flying fish.

"Whoa –" Takeru exclaimed as he fell backward on the vehicle.

As they flew away, Yui watched them from above, her hands clasped together in front of her, like if she was praying.

"All right, Yui, this is it uh. Any last words? Yeah. Yeah I really wished I had a better idea than this!" She mumbled as she started diving toward the balloon.

She drove right into one of the smaller balloon, jumping at the last minute and hanging on the ropes attached all around, her vehicle making a hole in the smaller balloon.

Seeing the balloon falling, Zeus looked to the ground and realized they were losing altitude. Uh. Just his luck. With a sigh, he looked up and toward Akira.

"We're losing altitude. Lighten up the load!" He yelled.

Akira started throwing stuff off the cabin. Barrels and luggage went tumbling down toward the ground, crashing in the middle of all the battles. Zeus approached him as the Lieutenant wiped his brows from the sweat crippling down from his forehead.

"Uhn," Akira moaned as he looked at the ground. "That's it, unless someone wants to jump."

"Lieutenants first," Zeus said as he grabbed the man from behind very easily and threw him off board.

If Akira hadn't been himself, he would have died. But being a special agent, he grabbed the railing of the balloon's cabin. As Zeus approached the edge to see if his lieutenant had died, he was greeted with Akira's foot right in his face, sending him flying to the ground with a grunt.

"You said we were in this together!" he yelled, walking toward the commander like a tiger approaching its prey.

He hit him multiple times with his foot, letting his rage do the talking as Zeus replied with simple grunts, unable to speak as his lieutenant kept kicking him.

"You promised me a percentage!"

Just when Akira's foot was going to hit Zeus again, he grabbed it with his hand, breaking Akira's balance and surprising him.

"Next time, get it in writing!" Zeus advised, a vicious smile on his face as he sent Akira flying overboard again. "Nothing personal!" he called after him as Akira fell to the ground, screaming.

Seeing this, Yui hurried and broke some of the ropes, surrounded her hands in them and jumped off from where she was hanging, her feet hitting straight in Zeus' face, sending them both overboard and under the balloon's cabin. Zeus grabbed a rope and hit Yui against the cabin, knocking the air out of her lungs. She was holding onto his shirt, and as Zeus' fingers let go of the rope, they fell to the second level of the cabin.

Zeus quickly recovered and stood up, smiling at Yui. "Well, I have to hand it to you. You're a bigger pain in the neck than I would have ever thought possible!"

Yui quickly stood up and tried to punch Zeus, but her small frame wasn't fit for combat. The man simply grabbed her fist and punched her in the face with it, right before kicking her in the guts, sending her to the ground and flying overboard again.

"I consider myself an even-tempered man! It takes a lot to get under my skin," Zeus commented.

Yui was holding onto the broken railing, which caught in the rotating helices propelling the balloon upward.

"But congratulations, you just won the solid gold kewpie doll." He crouched and looked at Yui from between the broken helices, a smile still on his face.

Yui extended her hand and grabbed the chains attaching the cage to the balloon. She hold onto there, hoping she would survive long enough to be able to free Thoth and his people.

From the ground, Akira came back to consciousness and turned around on his back, looking up at the balloon. His pretty face was distorted by pain, but he had to get revenge for what Zeus had done to him. Moaning from broken ribs, he grabbed his gun attached to his belt and aimed for the balloon still floating overhead.

"Nothing personal," he was able to mumble as he pulled the trigger and set a shot toward the balloon, sure he wouldn't miss.

Indeed, the ball of fire hit right into the bigger balloon, making it explode. Seeing this, Zeus didn't have many options left. He broke the glass window protecting an axe, took it and went back to try to kill Yui. His smile was evil and he was completely mad. Yui looked up to him, thinking fast. What was she going to do now?

She let herself fall on the cage's roof, sliding to the side and hanging onto dear life as Zeus sliced through the air with his ax.

"Getting tired, Mrs. Kusanagi?" Zeus smiled down at her, swinging his ax.

Yui moved to the side, resulting in the axe hitting straight onto the window of the cage.

"Aw, that's a darn shame, because I'm just getting warmed up!" he said, about to attack the girl again.

The linguist looked at the broken, glowing glass and had an idea. She grabbed a shard, ignoring the pain in her hand. Just in time, Zeus grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled her up toward him, holding her in the air slightly above him, menacing her with his axe. Zeus' hand had wrapped itself around her neck, but before he could strangle her and hit her with his axe again, Yui sliced the glass shard on his arm, making him scream in pain and let her go to hold onto the painful arm.

Yui took this moment to climb up the chains and escape her enemy. As she climbed, she could hear the man yelling in pain, his voice suddenly becoming a screech. Yui paid him no mind as she tried to unblock the helices. She had to hurry or they would all die. She successfully did so, and with grunt climbed onto the circle holding the chains in place. As she looked down, she could see Zeus frozen from the touch of the glass shard, not moving. A small sigh of relief left her lips as she thought everything was over. Of course, she was wrong.

"Thank heavens," she mumbled, her head dropping toward her chest.

Just as she pronounced those word, a blue hand grabbed the metal circle, surprising her. She quickly backed away, knowing that only one touch from Zeus would mean her end. As the man reached for her, Yui grabbed the metallic circle and let herself slide under it, all her weight bringing the other side up, the side where Zeus was.

Zeus looked up and the last thing he saw were the helices turning and ready to shred him. It created a dangerous explosion. Still holding tightly onto the circle despite her arms being tired and about to give away, Yui looked away from the explosion. The already weakened chains gave in and the cage and Yui dropped toward the ground. They hit it, rolling down toward a safer place. Unfortunately, Yui had only a few seconds to react, since the rest of the now burning balloon was coming straight toward her.

"Oh great," she mumbled as she pushed the cage toward the ground, hoping she would survive long enough to free Thoth.

The force of the explosion gave her the last push she needed to get far away and to a safer place. As she hit the ground next to the cage, the others joined her on their flying vehicles. As she thought they would be able to leave soon and safely, with nothing to force them to hurry, the ground cracked and started glowing red. Of course, the explosion reawakened the dormant volcano, which was about to erupt.

"The volcano… she awakes!" Anubis yelled, panicked.

"Hey, I had nothing to do with it!" Loki said, brandishing a lit dynamite stick.

"Uh, Loki… this here would be a good place not to be," Dionysus pointed out, talking about the dynamite stick as Loki hurriedly extinguished the flame.

The others started leaving, afraid of the volcano burning them alive.

"No wait! We got to get him back or the whole city will die!" Yui exclaimed as she took hold of the hook and the chains, running back toward the cage.

She put the hook in the loop for it, trying to secure it. Takeru came to help her, hurrying up as the ground cracked under their feet.

"And if _we_ don't get out of here, we will die!" Takeru yelled back, helping her with the cage.

"It's the only way to reverse all of this!" Yui explained. "Just do it!"

Takeru threw the other hook to Loki, who tied it to his vehicle. It was now tied to the tail of the fish, and they promptly left, hanging on quickly as they rose from the ground. But of course, since things were going so well, something bad had to happen. The loop to which the hook was attached broke. Yui grumbled as she jumped to the ground, taking the chain and surrounding the cage with it as she climbed on it.

"Yui no!" Takeru called back, but it was too late.

The young woman was already ready to keep going as the ground shook beneath them.

"Go!" she yelled back to them, and Loki made the vehicles move away from the danger.

They flew through the caves, waves of magma rolling behind them as Yui flew behind the flying fish, holding tightly to the cage, hoping the chain would not break again. They broke outside after what seemed like hours. They flew toward the city, where Loki gently landed the cage to the ground on one of the highest plateau of the city.

The Atlanteans gathered around as Yui looked around for something to open the cage. One of the man handed her a spear, which she used as a lever to open the door and free Thoth.

"The fissure," Anubis started, turning toward the group, "it is about to eject its pyroclastic fury!"

"Fairy! Anubis says the walls going to blow! It's going to blow! Hurry!" Apollon passed the message on.

"I'm… trying…" Yui grunted.

Finally, the door gave in, and a ray of blue light broke through. Everyone backed away as the walls of the cage flew apart, falling to the ground a few feet away. In the middle was Thoth's glowing form, shining brightly. The markings on the ground started to take on the glow, spreading the light throughout the city. There was a loud rumbling sound coming from below, when suddenly the rocks representing the ancient kings of Atlantis broke through the ground. They surrounded Thoth, and started flying toward the sky as they spun, bringing the prince with them.

Thoth stood still during his ascension toward the sky. He started opening his arms, spreading them in a cross shape as the rocks spun quicker, blurring in together in blue lights. The prince found himself in a bubble of light, electric shocks appearing on the surface.

There was a beam of light coming from the inside of the bubble and sent straight in the water surrounding the city. Then there was another one, and another, and so on. The ground rumbled and giant statues started rising from under water. They rose proudly and made their way toward the edge of the island.

No one really knew what they were, or what they were doing. It was very strange, but also very impressive to see. Fireballs shot from the mountains, hitting the statues right in the head, demolishing them, but nothing stopped them. They kept moving toward the edge, like they had a special purpose.

As the magma rose and more explosions happened in the mountains, the statues stood at the edge, and clasped their hands together. When they parted, their arms placed like if they were on a cross, a force field spread across the air, covering the island in a protective bubble as the wave of lava rose higher and started hitting the island.

Yui stared at the sky as the lava covered the protective bubble. It was simply amazing and incredible. How was it even possible! It defied anything they had known.

The magma solidified. How would they get out now, if they were stuck under hard rock? But Yui barely had time to worry. Before she could even put into word how she felt, the blue lights that had spread on the ground when they had freed Thoth extended to the walls of rocks, breaking through it in a pattern alike to the Atlanteans' drawings. The solid rock broke into pieces and fell apart all around the island.

The force field disappeared as the last bits of rock fell with a loud rumbling sound. The statues stayed in their positions, acting like the guardians of the city. There was a long moment of silence, where no one even dared breathe.

Yui turned around as a ray of light appeared, coming from the Heart of the Atlantis still hovering above the ground. She looked up and saw Thoth floating toward the ground ever so gently. He was not glowing anymore, apparently liberated from the spirit of the Heart. Yui ran toward the place where the light touched the ground, since that would also be where Thoth would fall. She waited for him to descend completely and caught him in her arms when he did. He was unconscious, his face calm and serene.

The light disappeared as soon as Thoth touched Yui. He exhaled as he relaxed into her arms. Yui fell to her knees, still holding him as he slowly came back to his senses. His eyes fluttered open, and his gaze slowly rose to look into Yui's eyes. He slowly backed away, surprised.

"Yui?" he smiled gently, like he couldn't believe it.

Yui was unable to reply, just smiling. She was so relieved he was alive! She had done it. She saved him, and all of Atlantis. She hadn't failed the now deceased King.

As Thoth gain back all his senses, he lost his smile and looked down at his hand. He opened it, and found a small bracelet was there. He smiled sadly as he brought the bracelet closer to his face. The prince closed his fingers around the small bracelet.

"Mathim," he whispered, closing his eyes.

When he opened them again, he looked at Yui and wrapped his arms around her, hugging, burying his face in her neck. Yui hugged him back, extremely glad he was alright. They stayed immobile for a long time, simply enjoying each other's presence.

After a while, Yui cracked an eye open, and what she saw behind Thoth's shoulders astounded her. The city looked so different and _so_ beautiful. She made Thoth turn around and look. His smile widened as they got to their feet and walked toward the edge of the plateau.

As they looked at the city, the rest of the crew joined them, standing next to each other as they looked at the city. The water was flowing again in between the statues, which stood at the edge of the continent.

Thoth subtly extended his hand toward Yui, gently lacing his fingers with hers. Yui looked up and smiled at him as he leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. They stared at the city, savoring their victory.

* * *

After a good night of rest, the remaining crew that originally left America to find the lost Empire of Atlantis was preparing themselves to leave. Thoth and Yui watched as the others were charging one of the flying vehicles, which looked like a dolphin shaped place than anything else. They were leaving with tons of gold and jewelleries as a thank you from the Atlanteans.

Loki and the others were standing in front of Yui and Thoth. Loki bowed in front of the prince as he put around his neck one of the crystals.

"Atlantis will honor your names forever," he said. "I only wish there was more we could do for you." Thoth admitted as Yui giggled behind him.

"Eh, you know. Thanks anyway, but I think we're good!" Loki smiled as he looked back at all the gold.

"They'll take you as far as the surface," Yui told them.

"We are really going to miss you, Weed," Takeru admitted with a shy smile.

Yui hugged him, not even bothering on correcting him about her nickname. She was going to miss them too, of course, but her place was here, with the Atlanteans. That's where she was going to be useful. And, of course, she wanted to stay and get to know Thoth better than she already did.

"You know," Loki started as he approached her for his own hug, "I'm going to reopen the flower shop, and I'm going to think of you guys every single day. Monday through Friday, 9 to 5… Saturday until 2... And I think I'm going to take Sunday off… what do you think, Kitten?"

"I think it's wonderful," Yui laughed as Loki left, mumbling to himself about his new flower shop.

"I'm not so good at making speeches, but I want you to have this," Dionysus said as he approached Yui, handing her a bottle of wine. "It's the wine from the whole trip. I mean, the one we didn't drink."

"Thank you, Dionysus," Yui smiled at him.

They hugged briefly, and Dionysus left, giving his place to someone else. They all wanted to bid Yui farewell, after all.

Balder approached her, and shook her hand. "It's been a pleasure working with you, Yui. Thor had every right to think you were ready for this. He would have been extremely proud of you, just as I am."

"Thank you for giving me this wonderful chance, Balder."

"Sorry it became complicated. I hope you will come see me every once in a while."

"I will definitely try."

They hugged and Balder left to join Loki, who was fooling around with some gold pieces.

Yui looked at the crew, when suddenly, Anubis appeared in her sight. He spread his arms open, like he wanted a hug, but a strange smell made Yui think twice about it.

"Anubis!" she giggled, trying not to take in too much air. "Anubis, wow, hey… well… Good-bye, Anubis!" She smiled, gently tapping the top of his head like he was a dog.

"Are you sure you want to stay, Fairy? Really sure?" Apollon worried. "There's a hero's welcome waiting for the woman who discovered Atlantis!"

"I don't think the world needs another hero. Besides, as I was saying earlier, I hear there is an opening down here for an expert in gibberish."

Thoth was now standing next to her, his arm resting around her shoulders. It looked just like another lovey-dovey touch, but the message was clear. He was not letting Yui go, at least, not before a few years. And not without him.

"Well then, take good care of yourself, Fairy. Take care of yourself!" Apollon said as he extended his hand toward her.

"Yeah, you too Apollon." Yui closed in the distance and took his hand.

Instead of simply shaking it, Apollon pulled her into a bear hug. Yui couldn't help but giggle. She hugged him back. They parted and Yui walked back to where Thoth was still standing, looking at the others as they walked toward the ship.

"Come guys! Let's take on last picture in front of the fish!" the doctor cheered.

They all walked toward it, sitting down or standing in the piles of golds. Yui and Thoth stood behind, while Loki and Balder stood to the right. In the middle, there was Dionysus, Tsukito and Apollon, and on the left, Takeru and Anubis. One of the Atlantean guards took place behind the camera.

"Say: Gochk!" he said.

"Gochk!" everyone said at the same time, smiling at the camera.

After that, they hugged one last time and the rest of the crew left back toward the surface. Yui and Thoth looked at the plane leaving.

"God, I'm glad they're gone," Thoth sighed once the vehicle left.

"Oh come on, they're not that bad," Yui laughed as she gently hit him in the ribs with her elbows.

"No. But now, I can take all your time, and no one will disturb us," he smiled mischievously as he leaned down and pressed a kiss to Yui lips.

"Oh, but we have a lot to do before that, Mister."

"As long as I'm with you, I don't care."

Melissa climbed on Yui's shoulder, meowing to get some attention. Yui smiled as she took Thoth's hand. They walked together back to the city, thinking about what their next step was going to be.

* * *

Weeks have passed since everything had started. Yui was adapting to the traditions of the Atlanteans perfectly well. She was frequenting Thoth, who had taken his father's place on the throne and now acted as the King of the Atlanteans. He had been courting the young woman for a while now, and had recently asked her to marry him. The ceremony would happen fairly soon, in between Thoth's work on bringing back the old traditions of Atlantis and Yui translating the story of these peoples.

But before any of that, they had an important mission to accomplish, which they had been working on for a long time. They had picked a rock and had carved it to resemble the previous King. Everyone had gathered on the plateau, where a few weeks ago they had made their last stand, while Yui finished carving the rock.

When the last details were finished, she stepped back and looked at her work. She was wearing Atlanteans clothes, which belonged to the previous Queen. Thoth was standing next to her, looking serious. But his eyes showed his sorrows and nervousness. He took a step forward and pressed the tip of his crystal to the rock, which became illuminated by the blue light.

They took a few steps back as the rock started hovering over the ground and rising toward the heavens, where the Heart of Atlantis was.

As it rose into the air, Thoth grabbed Yui's arm, forcing her to follow him. He took a path all too familiar to the both of them, the same path they had taken when they had their little chat on the first day Yui had arrived. They climbed the path leading to the top of the guardian statue, Thoth taking the lead. They reached the top and looked to the rock joining the other ancestors, holding hands.

Yes, a new age for the Atlantis was now starting. They were safe from letting their culture dying. Now, the only place to go was forward, toward finding out their culture and the old ways of their people.

Truly, this had been a once in a lifetime chance, and Yui was glad she had been part of this whole expedition. She silently thanked Thor as she looked up to the sky.

Finally, she had found where she belonged.


End file.
